Return of Naruto Namikaze and Ino Yamanaka
by Arashi Uzumaki-Namikaze
Summary: Uhh...a time travel story about 2 people?  I haven't seen many of these about this particular pair and I had to wonder how they'd handle it.  Read the A/N at the beginning for a summary.  It won't fit here!
1. Chapter 1

_**The Return of Namikaze**_

I hope you enjoy this. Yes, this is a time travel fanfiction. No, I don't know when I'll get my inspiration back for the other two. Circle of Magic-muse died. I will take it down. Savior-muse died along with computer wipe (because I had a virus) and the files for it were destroyed. The program I wrote them in irritated me like nobody's business anyway.

I am also sorry about the prophecy. I cannot for the life of me write a good prophecy despite what I want to get out of it.

Summary: OK, basic storyline that I came up with at the pool earlier. I figured this deserved a trial run, because honestly I can see it happening in an alternate storyline. See, I had this original idea where Naruto and Ino are the last people left standing in Konoha, or what's left of it. The 4th World War destroyed it, and the Akatsuki were destroyed in return. Now with their comrades gone, Naruto and Ino, who are both now twenty-one, look for a way out, and find it, in the most peculiar place. The Yondaime's Scroll of Sealing has survived, and it is time to re-shape the future…with the past…

Here's the basics of the AU: Naruto's the Destined Child, also known as the Light. The thing sealed in the statue isn't the Juubi, and the moon has nothing to do with it. Zip. Nadda. Blame the Moon's Eye name on a crazy shinobi named Madara Uchiha whose sanity left a long time ago. It's based off of a gradual AU (and I don't know why I can't get the original timeline to form, but whatever, so just read this for a general summary. I might write a prequel after finishing this saga though) that starts when Naruto discovers who his parents are on the training trip, that all of Kyuubi is sealed inside of him, and that the seal is meant to make him into the Nine-Tailed Demon Lord. Naruto is Rokudaime. The rest is explained, I did try to do my best with this chapter.

Another thing. Naruto and Ino are out of character. Completely. Ino's not boy-crazy and Naruto's not an idiot. There is a reason this is called The Return of Naruto Namikaze and Ino Yamanaka. He's more like his father than he let on in his youth. You'll see.

Pairing: well, no real pairing yet, and I haven't really decided. I just know that it will be slow-developing from the day they get back to. This will take on all of Team Seven's most…_unusual_ missions with a twist to it. I can only hope I get all of these together correctly, though, as missions for me can be written out in two chapters…well, we'll see, won't we?

I don't own Naruto. I do own this particular idea. And any Kekkei Genkai I give Naruto or other characters who don't previously have a Kekkei Genkai, along with any OCs that appear. They will appear, believe me, at one point or another, just not super-powered. I hate Mary Sues/Gary Stus so I will try to keep the characters from becoming that way.

Flames will feed the fire of creativity. Do us all a favor and quit flaming people. For future reference, I do height in _feet and inches_, so guess what (yes, I'm that annoying), I'm American! IE: 6' is six feet. 6" is six inches. I hope this made sense.

And again, I don't own Naruto. Though I wish I did!

**Chapter One: Return to the Past**

It was all gone. That was the first noticeable thing about the crater sitting below the monument the two blonds were standing on.

One of them was male. He was wearing a red trench coat edged in black flames like his father's, and his face and eye shape had changed over the years, turning him from a young man who could have mixed the traits of his parents to a near carbon copy of his father. However, he had red tips the same shade as his mother's hair to each and every one of his spiky blond locks. He stood at the same exact height his father had, 6'5", and he wore a black long-sleeved shirt, black sweats, and a green Jounin vest beneath the red trench coat, which was held together with a similar if not identical tie to the one his father wore when he was younger. His eyes were a pure azure color, almost like crystal and they seemed to glow a little as he looked out at the village. His hair was held back from these eyes with a Konoha hitai-ate with a long black strap, and his hands were covered in fingerless gloves, marking another change from the past when he would never have worn gloves. Instead of two kunai and shuriken pouches on his legs, there were four, two holding the standard-issue weapons, one of them holding tri-pronged kunai and the last holding six-pronged shuriken. Dark whisker markings adorned each of his cheeks, so dark they looked black and they were quite thick as well. His eyes were slitted like those of a fox, and his hands, if one looked closely, were visibly clawed, as were his feet; a sharp, white canine could be seen poking out of the right corner of his mouth. A single sword was strapped across his back, a gift from the Kyuubi, in a black sheath, its handle wrapped in dark blue cloth with a wing symbol engraved on the pommel. His name was Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, Konoha no Shinku Senkou and Rokudaime Hokage, as the black flaming kanji down his back emphasized. Behind the kanji was a golden nine-tailed fox with red tips to its ears and tails, protecting the Leaf symbol. His personal symbol.

The second blond was shorter, with paler blond hair and no special coloring aside from blond. Where the first had had spiky sun-kissed blond hair that reached his shoulders like his father's had, she had long silky platinum blond hair that was tied back in a braid with a weighted end to it. She was wearing a sleeveless dark purple shirt that ended before her stomach, which was covered in black fishnet, the fishnet undershirt also covering her arms up to her elbows. As if to counteract that, she was wearing black shinobi sweats, and black sandals with armored fingerless gloves on her hands. A green Jounin vet went on over her purple shirt, but it was partially unzipped, allowing the enemy shinobi to be a little put-off by her assets, which were almost the size of Tsunade's by this point in time. She wore a sword across her back, which was a gift from the blond beside her. He had forged it with his own and Kyuubi's chakra, tuning it to her precise chakra signature and elemental affinities after finding this out. She had been given the sword shortly after the village was first destroyed when she was fifteen, and so was he. She stood at 5'9", quite the height for a woman of Konoha, and her long blond hair was kept back from her face with the hitai-ate around her forehead bearing the Konoha symbol, the strap a dark violet. Her eyes were more of a sky blue color, and near her pupils darkened to indigo thanks to the overexposure to youki she'd had in the past six years since the start of the Fourth Great Shinobi World War against the Akatsuki. Her hands were even less visibly clawed, but the sharp tooth poking at her lower lip was unmistakable, and a long scar ran down her neck, disappearing beneath the neckline of her shirt, in the form of five angry red lines. It was from getting too close to an out-of-control Naruto, to calm him down (and tell him it was time to launch the final attack) but her chakra, stronger than most normal humans' chakra, had absorbed the youki, causing a few more of the physical changes visible, as well as the slitted pupils in her eyes. Her name was Ino Yamanaka, but her aliases included Bakemono no Shi, for her ability to unleash an attack that could kill the Yonbi (which she had done only when she had no other choice) and Konoha no Tenshi Shouten, for her angelic looks and ability to kill her enemies thanks to a few jutsu she'd learned from her teachers, and the rest she'd developed herself.

"So this is it, huh? This is what we've fought so hard for," Naruto commented; the two of them were standing atop his father's head on the Hokage Monument "I wish we could change things…pity, that saving the world and fulfilling my destiny caused such chaos," he sighed "Sometimes I wish I wasn't the Destined Child."

Naruto was speaking of his importance in a prophecy made by the Toad Elder. This prophetic ability had seen them all through pain and sorrow multiple times, and as it turned out, the Yamanaka next to him was just strong enough to stay by his side through all of it, the war, the pain, the sorrow, and the final peace after the final member of Akatsuki fell to his Fuuton: Fuujin no Rasen Shuriken.

Ino sighed "I know what you mean," tears stung her eyes "I miss them all, so much Naruto. I wish Sasuke had never betrayed us, that Sakura had not lost her life to save mine from him, and that Tsunade-shishou," Ino had been trained by the busty blond Hokage as soon as she was awake from the coma she'd been put in by Pein, under Naruto's request "I miss shishou," she admitted "I miss them all. Even Chouji, he didn't have to die, but he did! All because of an ambush that Shika died in!" furiously, Ino dashed the tears from her eyes, but they kept coming.

Naruto turned to face her, and for the first time in his life that Ino remembered, there were tears falling freely down his cheeks, and he offered his arms to her "As I said before, when this whole mess started with my ascension to Rokudaime on the six month training trip I took with you to master everything I needed to get us out of this alive, if you ever need a shoulder to cry on, I'm here." His voice broke a few times as he remembered, and he thought _'Kami-sama, I miss you, Ero-sennin, Dad, Mom…Sakura, Sasuke, Chouji, Hinata, Shikamaru, Kakashi-sensei…'_ he began running through a mental list of all of his dead precious people and when they had died.

Ino gratefully accepted his embrace, though she was very aware that his shoulder was not the only one getting wet. In fact, her shoulder was getting just as wet, from what she could feel, and she trembled in his embrace, as he wept in hers. The sorrow overcoming the two of them, war heroes and survivors to the last, both because they were too damn stubborn to die properly in the battles that felled their comrades in the war, they broke down in each other's arms on the top of the Hokage Monument.

Twenty minutes later, the two blonds parted, this time with red, puffy eyes. Their crying session finished, Ino said dryly "You know, I don't think we'll ever get a second chance."

Those words struck a chord inside Naruto. _'A second chance. Second chance. Time Travel. OH my god!'_ With trembling, clawed fingers, he gently drew back his left sleeve, and turned his forearm so its underside was faced up. Ignoring the number of scars that littered it, which were few, he whispered "Otou-san, Okaa-san, I am ready," and watched, as on the sun-kissed, perfectly tanned skin, there appeared a black seal with the kanji for 'Namikaze-Uzumaki Hijutsu' in the center.

"Naruto, what are you doing?" Ino leaned over to look "What is _that_?" she gasped, staring at the seal "Naruto?"

"I'm going to do it; you inspired me, Ino-chan, so thank you," Naruto said, light returning to his eyes as he bit his thumb and smeared blood on the seal "**Kai**," he ordered it, and out of it appeared a scroll. The scroll looked exactly like the Forbidden Scroll of Seals, except for one end was the same bloody red as Naruto's hair's tips, and the other was a bright gold that shimmered softly in the setting sun's rays. Hope rekindled in his heart, Naruto said words that would forever mark a change in himself and in Ino, for these were some of the exact words of the prophecy "I am the Light, son of Sun and Fire."

The scroll opened, unfurling so he could look through it. Every technique of his father's and mother's clans was here, from prank jutsu to the Hiraishin, but he had one in particular he was looking for. Time-Space Release: Time Rebirth Jutsu. He found it, on the second-to-last seal of the scroll, and, swallowing, he looked at the last one, wincing as he saw that it was the instructions and contained the summoning contract for the Shiki Fuujin.

Ino watched this with fascination, and stared at the names of the techniques. Kage Bunshin was one of them, but she had never heard of nor seen Tempest of the Storm God, or, and her insides turned cold at this one, the Ascension Summons. Naruto stopped on the second-to-last seal, which had the words beneath it 'Time-Space Release', and she looked up at the last seal on the scroll just as Naruto did. Wincing, she could see him wince as well at the instructions and materials for the Shiki Fuujin that had been sealed there. It had been that which sealed the Kyuubi into him, and that which had ruined his early childhood, but she knew the Yondaime, Minato Namikaze, had meant for the villagers to see him as a hero.

The first time she'd heard of the Kyuubi was in the Academy where she was taught that the Yondaime killed it at the cost of his own life. Instead, she got a very different picture painted for her when Naruto came forward with the information _during_ his inauguration as Hokage, making the S-class secret void and null, but at the same time asking that any children born during this time only be taught that there was a child who had it sealed within them, a child Yondaime trusted. If the kids didn't put two and two together until they were old enough, then that was fine with him.

Ino had confronted him afterward and had found out the red monster (which is what she'd seen rise after Hinata's death) that Naruto had turned into was in fact the Kyuubi no Kitsune, and the reason he'd been trusted with it, again revealed during his inauguration, was because the sealer was his father. A few people had asked him if he hated his father for what he'd done to him. Naruto could only smile sadly and shake his head, and when asked why, his response was simple.

'Tou-san damned his soul to the Shinigami, when he completed the Shiki Fuujin. He knew he was going to die, and what right do any of us have hating him for doing what is right? It is not always easy to do what is right, but he did what was right in an hour when no one else could, or would, choosing to seal the demon into me rather than let the village be destroyed by its power. And he entrusted the Kyuubi, with all of its power, to me and me alone, believing that I could control its power and prevent such a thing from happening again. My former philosophy before figuring him out, and I did so on the training trip with Jiraiya-sensei, was 'I don't have any right hating him when he didn't get to live to see another day, and I did'. Now it's 'He trusted me with this, and believed in me from the day I was born. He sacrificed himself to give me a future. If not anything else, I know he loved me, and so did Kaa-san; I've met both of them, actually, as their chakras are in the seal just in case the fox decides to escape. So I don't have any reason to hate him. He did what was right over what was easy, and he damned his soul to an eternity of torment because he loved his son and village too much to let them die.'

No one had ever spoken ill of the Yondaime again around Naruto, nor had they asked him anything in regards to the way he saw his father. Minato Namikaze was revered as a hero from that day onward, if for nothing else than his actions during the Kyuubi attack.

Smiling, Naruto remembered the day he had told them all that his father was the Yondaime, and proved it by performing the Hiraishin, which was a clan technique of the Namikazes, further proving himself by using the Ou no Rashomon summons, in the first battle of the war. Since his inauguration and the way he'd proven himself in the eyes of every Kage in the Shinobi Nations, he had been selected to lead their shinobi against the Akatsuki.

Unsealing the scroll took more chakra than he expected it to, but then he chuckled to himself _'Tou-san didn't want anyone else using this, so of __course__ it required more chakra.'_ He didn't roll the Scroll of Seals back up, however, instead opening the Time-Space scroll to the correct seal, and unsealing it, this taking his blood instead of his chakra.

Unsealing the last scroll, Naruto sighed, looking over at Ino, who was staring at the three scrolls he was using, and said "Tou-san was paranoid, so he triple-locked everything. I'm willing to bet if you were my opponent, by now you would be incapable of moving or something similar," he explained, and Ino nodded.

It did make sense, considering the Yondaime had acquired many enemies when he was alive, that he would keep everything he owned locked up with a blood seal. Reading over Naruto's shoulder, Ino could see the instructions, and thought _'this is incredibly complicated…'_

_Namikaze Hijutsu: Time-Space Release: Time Rebirth no Jutsu._

_The Hand-seals for this are simple, but if you do not have absolute will to change things when you activate this jutsu, they will __fail__ and you will __die__. Naruto, if you're reading this…I'm sorry everything turned out the way it has. Tell Kyuubi I said 'hi' from Shinigami,_ Naruto chuckled at the words, and continued reading.

_This jutsu sends you back in time a certain number of years depending on the amount of chakra you use and the number of people. If you use one person you can go back any number of years, but with two it's much harder and requires a bijuu to power it, such as the Kyuubi no Kitsune or someone with a hell of a lot of chakra._

_Now, to start with, you need to know the Namikaze and Uzumaki clan hand-seals for this jutsu, and draw the seal shown below on the ground around yourself and whoever is accompanying you to the past._

The seal was incredibly complicated. Naruto glanced back at the scroll _This seal needs to be drawn in your blood, and the blood of anyone who will be accompanying you through time._

"Crap, make it all the harder to draw, Tou-san," Naruto grumbled, picking up the other two scrolls and sealing them back up as he got to work "Ino-chan, I need you to trust me; I can stop my own healing factor to get enough blood to make one of these, and when I stop, I need you to give me the same amount, ok?" he asked, and Ino nodded.

"If it will let us change the past, I'm ready," Ino said. She had to save her teammates and friends from this, even if it killed her. Naruto unsealed his sealing supplies, and pulled out two clear jars.

He took out a tri-pronged kunai and slit his wrist with it, closing his eyes and concentrating on stopping the healing factor "Ino-chan, tell me when I have enough blood to fill this all the way in there; the jar takes about half a liter of blood to fill," he said.

"Ok, Naruto," she told him, watching the empty jar slowly fill up with red blood, streaked through with gold here and there. She rubbed her eyes, confused "Naruto, your blood has golden streaks in it."

"Namikaze trait, ignore it," Naruto told her, his entirety focused on the wound and while his body was generating more and more blood to send through his veins, the cut would be enough to get them by, hopefully. They needed a _lot_ of blood for this sealing technique to work.

"_**Brat, if you die, I'm going to kill you,"**_ the fox, which had become silent since Naruto had gained seven, almost eight tails of its nine tails of chakra, threatened.

"Shaddup Kyuubi, I'm going to change things," Naruto said, and Ino glanced at him, chuckling "What's so funny Ino-chan?" demanded the hanyou.

"You're halfway there," she reported to him "and the fact that you're telling the most powerful demon in existence to shut up is just funny to me," she said, smiling "even if you do have nearly eight of its nine tails as a kitsune hanyou."

"_**You too Yamanaka! I'd eat you if I was out there!"**_ Naruto snarled an obscenity he had learned from the lips of Tsunade herself at the fox and slammed the mental gag on it for the time being.

"Stupid fox; can't shut up when you need it to," he muttered. Ever since he'd gotten the sixth tail the demon had slowly stopped bothering him, but the seals the village's council had placed on him when he was younger had prevented the seal from finishing on time (it should have made him a hanyou on his 20th birthday and then fused all tails to him in one go, not gradually as it was working now). At least it had finally learned when to shut up, or he would threaten a certain part of its anatomy or something similar.

Ino watched the golden-streaked blood, observing the golden streaks that shot like lightning through the blood nearly filling up the jar. The gold looked like _actual_ lightning, and she could barely believe it as she observed them "Naruto, you're done," she told him, right as the last drop filled up the bottle. Watching, the wound healed itself instantly, and Naruto placed the first jar on the ground, opening his eyes and fixing them on hers.

'_Oh no,'_ thought Ino, looking at him _'I know what he wants,'_ Naruto held out the jar to her, and she nodded "Does it have to be my wrist?"

Startled, Naruto shook his head "No, I just used the wrist because it makes it easier for me to focus on keeping it open," he said honestly.

Ino nodded, and pulled off her gloves, noticing how Naruto had done that only for his left hand. Then she slit an easily healed cut in her left pointer finger, right along the back of it down to the nail, and held her finger over the jar. With each drop, she thought of the friends they were going back to save, of everyone they would be capable of saving from themselves, Orochimaru (who had died at Sasuke's hands), or the Akatsuki and the bijuu and summons that had come with them.

Tears began falling down her cheeks as she remembered Kurenai-sensei; she was so brave, and she died to save Kiba and Hinata, the dating couple at the time, leaving Shikamaru and Temari to raise little Akari Sarutobi. Sadly, the three of them had been killed two weeks later, in a raid of Oto shinobi on the village, and the two of them had fought to the end to save little Akari but it was not to be.

Asuma-sensei had died the earliest of all of them. At the hands of Hidan, a Jashinist worshipper, he had died to save Team Ten from the man's scythe, all because they had been trying and failing to stop them from taking the head of one of Asuma-sensei's early comrades, a monk named Chiriku that had saved his life against a traitorous man named Kazuma. Kurenai-sensei had been pregnant and devastated, a bad combination, and only through Shikamaru's work had she managed to survive long enough to have little Akari, who looked just like her father with her mother's red eyes, and the twin to Akari died when he was six months old of poison; his name was Hiruzen.

Ino and Naruto both watched as the last drop of blood fell into the jar. She placed it beside Naruto's, and at a nod from her, the hanyou Hokage began his work, and he said "Stand in the middle, next to the coat," with that he took off his coat and placed it on the ground on top of his father's head.

Nodding, Ino did as she was told, healing the cut she'd made in her finger (which was rather deep) to save them all. Naruto, meanwhile, picked up two sealing brushes and, taking their blood-filled jars, began drawing the seal after memorizing it down to the very last stroke from the scroll. They had a chance, and he wasn't about to let his inattention mess this up.

It took him until the moon was rising on the horizon to finish the sealing design, and he returned to the center, stepping carefully over the designs and placing the now-empty jars on the ground before them. Looking at her, he nodded "It's time, Ino-chan. Stay inside the seal."

"Hai; do you need anything else from me, Naruto?" she asked, and Naruto shook his head, looking back at the hand-seals required.

There were 100 of them in all. Naruto sighed "Tou-san…" and shook his head "I'll work on something when we get back to when we want to _go_ back to. Ino-chan, I need you to tell me when we're going back to. When did everything first go wrong?"

Ino sighed heavily and sat down next to Naruto, looking out at the rising moon "I guess everything went wrong when Sasuke defected. No, things went downhill much sooner, the day your father died. But I'm doubting you have enough chakra to carry us that far."

Naruto chuckled "I don't have that much chakra, Ino-chan, not for the two of us. Maybe if the fox was cooperating, I would, with the Nine-Tailed Chakra Mode, but I have an hour to decide when to go back to. The seal does have a time limit."

"Right," Ino sighed heavily again "Then I think you should take us back to the week of graduation, maybe a week before, so we have time to adjust and get used to our roles in time for the graduation exam."

Naruto put a finger to his chin in thought. That could work. But Ino didn't know what had happened after graduation, as he'd never spoken about it. Out of all the memories he chose to share, that was not a particularly pleasant one he wanted to reveal. Still, he'd have to say _something_ about it.

"Ino-chan, before we go back that far, I want you to know what happened to _me_ when I graduated," he said, looking her in the eyes. Ino stared back, nodding "You remember how Mizuki-sensei was put in jail? He tricked me into stealing Otou-san's scroll, without realizing what it was at the time, and I need that to happen. I need to have a reason for finding out who my parents are without telling Sarutobi."

"Why can't we tell Sarutobi?" asked Ino, raising an eyebrow. She'd always trusted the old, wizened Sandaime "Naruto?" However, she had no idea of the old man's transgressions, or of the way he had _ordered_ the seal masters to seal off some of Naruto's intelligence.

"Ino-chan, you remember the seals I talked about?" Naruto asked, and Ino nodded "He applied two of them to me, one of them being a tracker seal and the other a death seal, though I'm lucky Tou-san caught that one. He wasn't pleased, to say the least, and neither was I, truth be told. It happened the first time I summoned Kyuubi's chakra and went four-tails; I was only three months into the training trip, and _that's_ when I found out who my parents are. I-I won't be going back with any of these seals on me, so he'll be suspicious, but maybe if I play it off as Kyuubi removed all seals, or lied about meeting them…" Naruto sighed, and looked out at the ruins of the village "I don't want this to happen again, but Sarutobi will not believe me, nor will he believe you without proof. I don't want either of us to be placed in prison where we can't put our talents and knowledge to use," he admitted to her.

After hearing his confession of what happened, Ino thought back to the description of the seals, and a shiver went down her spine. Suddenly everything fell into place for the Yamanaka. The Sandaime didn't use the tracing seal when he was older, did he? "Naruto, did the Sandaime use the tracking seal at all?"

Naruto blinked at her "No, the last time he checked it according to Tou-san was my eleventh birthday and he found me spending it with," he stopped, his throat tightening and he swallowed hard "With Iruka-sensei," he forced out "Damn it, Ino-chan, we're not going to make this work are we?" he threw up his hands "Can we do it?"

"If we can-can you use Memory Share?" Ino asked, her eyes widening a little when Naruto nodded his head "Then we'll take this to the Sandaime Hokage, and explain to him in no uncertain terms that by order of the Rokudaime Hokage, that is, you, and the Godaime, we had no other choice. Shishou told us to save them all, Naruto," she took his hand in hers, the comforting warmth provided from the contact more than enough for both of them "Now we have to make things work."

"Alright. So, the day of graduation it is, right Ino-chan?" he asked, and when she nodded, he smiled with that same gentle smile that he'd worn the day he was inaugurated. Releasing her hand, he stood up, and she stood up with him. Then he began the long chain of hand-seals, forcing his hands through the last nine with nothing but his chakra, and then the last one just wouldn't form _'NO! I will _not_ be responsible for their deaths a second time! I WILL save them, even at the cost of our lives! WE will save them!'_

Ino noticed him struggling, and thought to herself _'It must be the hardest part of the jutsu; finishing it. No wonder no one ever used it, he's barely got the strength to form the last seal and his hands are slipping!'_ "Naruto," he looked up at her, desperation clear in his eyes "You can do it. We can save them, all with this."

The last hand-seal came together effortlessly, and Naruto intoned "**Namikaze Hijutsu: Time-Space Release: Time Rebirth Jutsu! Take us back, to the day of the Rookie Nine's Graduation!**"

Gold, red and blue chakra surged forth from the hanyou's body, and the seal lit up with a brilliant white light. Then they both fell to the ground, darkness claiming them as they fell back. A pillar of brilliant white chakra lit up the sky as it exploded toward the heavens, illuminated only by the moon.

That's it for the first chapter, which is 'going back'. The second chapter focuses on their reactions to waking up in their old bedrooms that had long-since been destroyed.

Please review. I'm really bad at doing it, but even a 'what will happen next' is better than nothing.


	2. Chapter 2

Pairings are still uncertain. I have already decided that it will write itself the way it writes itself and I'm not going to change things. Just know that Naruto and Ino have been each other's shoulders to cry on and friends since Asuma's death. Divergence from canon storyline pretty much starts on the training trip, though, and it's all semi-AU until the Kage Summit where it goes off the deep end.

Still don't own Naruto. A little hint, though. I'm American, not Japanese.

OK does anyone find it weird that we won against Japan in WW2 and then they're winning against us financially?

**Chapter Two: Waking Up**

Ino fell through the brilliant white light of her dream and sat up gasping, drenched in sweat and in her bed. She looked around _'No way! I left this place behind when I became a Chuunin! What the hell is going on here? Genjutsu?'_ Forming the Ram Seal, Ino channeled her chakra, but nothing happened _'damn. OK, so it's real.'_

Reaching up to brush her long platinum blond hair back from her face, she froze at the sight of her own hand. It was smaller and there were no scars. Jumping from her bed, she landed on the floor in a tangled heap and out of her bedcovers fell the sword Naruto had made for her when both were fifteen. Shippuden no Akuma, Demon of the Hurricane, fell onto her lap. She stared at it, in its dark blue sheath with its hilt wrapped in black cloth and a red tip to the end of the hilt, and felt a familiar (if dead) chakra signature moving toward her.

Her mother's voice called from the hall "Ino-chan, time to get up!" Her mother's voice, a voice she hadn't heard since she was sixteen, hit her ears, and quickly Ino untangled her shorter legs from inside the bedcovers, surprised at her speed, not to mention coordination, as she'd been so _used_ to being tall and-well, beautiful!

Ignoring that for now, Ino heard her mother's footsteps coming closer to her door and quickly hid her sword inside the bedcovers, thankful that it still pulsed with a familiar warmth when her fingers closed around the hilt. It was heavier than she remembered.

"Ino, are you awake?" called her mother again; her mother's name was Izumi, maiden surname Taiyouko, and she had Ino's silky hair and mismatched eyes, one of them a light orange-red color like rust and the other the same blue color Ino had. It was called heterochromia disorder, and it was passed down from mother to child. Ino's left eye was actually a little grayer than her right, which meant she had the disorder, just not as visibly as her mother did.

"Yeah Mom, I'm up," Ino called, surprised by how young her voice sounded _'Damn, I'm going to have to go through puberty again. I __hate__ voice cracks…well, hopefully this time I can handle things a little better,'_ she thought, standing up and stretching "I'm up," she added, as she could feel her mother about to open the door. A few of her old scars, namely the one on her neck, had reappeared, and she had to apply a Genjutsu to keep them hidden.

'_I guess some things never really do change,'_ thought Ino, heading over to her closet and opening it…revealing her 'Sasuke Shrine', which was a reminder of how _stupid_ her infatuation at this age had been. She started hacking out a cough to hide the peals of laughter that were threatening to burst through her lips, and her mother walked in.

"Ino-chan, are you ok?" asked Izumi worriedly "Ino-chan?"

"!" Ino gave in to her laughter and fell on her butt, ignoring the slight pain where before she would have noticed it, pointing at the Sasuke shrine in the closet and laughing like a madwoman "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! K-KAMI-SAMA-IT'S-HAHAHAHA-IT'S SO FUNNY HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" tears began to stream down her cheeks as she laughed harder and harder. She couldn't believe how stupid she had been at this point in time (hence the slightly insane laughter).

Concerned, Izumi put a hand on Ino's shoulder, and Ino made an effort not to roll around anymore. A sobering thought was the memory of the traitor Uchiha, and she stopped laughing, looking up at her mother and wiping the tears from her eyes "Are you alright Ino-chan?"

"Just laughing at myself, Mom," Ino reassured her mother, sitting back up and making sure the purple tank top and black shorts she was wearing didn't reveal more than they were supposed to "Sorry if I scared you," she apologized, and stood up "Man," she shook her head "I really was an idiot at this age," she muttered, looking through her clothes.

Izumi looked at her concerned "Ino-chan, are you sure you're alright?"

Ino turned to the woman she hadn't seen in five years, and smiled radiantly at her "Yes Mom, I'm more than alright. I've just realized who I really am, and how acting isn't going to help me anymore. I was laughing because I used to be obsessed with Sasuke," the name left a bitter taste in her mouth as she remembered nearly getting hit by the Chidori, and how Naruto had gotten his chest blown open _again_ to save her, "and now, you could say that I've 'seen the light' of a sort. I've got to get dressed," she frowned at the distinct lack of shorts and sweats in her closet; "do I even own a pair of shorts that I don't sleep in, Mom?"

"Yes, here they are," Izumi pointed out the stack of shorts for her "They're all plain black, though. Are you sure you want to wear that, Ino-chan?" Ino nodded "You're positive?"

"Yes, I'm done wearing miniskirts," she scowled at the miniskirts, and the memory of the last time she'd worn one burnt through her memories like fire. She had worn it to go on a date; that had been a staged date meant to make her a fool.

She had gone to Naruto and cried in private, and the blond Hokage had held her, letting her cry on his shoulder. Come to think of it, even at this age, he had been cute before, just a little annoying, and now that he'd gotten rid of that, he-no, he was her best friend and she _wasn't_ ruining that by starting to like him! _'I don't want to ruin our friendship.'_ Swallowing and remembering that Naruto had told her she was cute in miniskirts, she frowned "Actually, I'm just going to wear what I would, and change a few things. Don't worry Mom, I'm ok. I promise," she added, seeing her mother's concerned expression "Umm…should Dad be down in the kitchen alone?"

Izumi snapped her fingers and turned to the door "No, he really shouldn't be. Thanks Ino-chan, I'd better get back down there and make sure your father doesn't burn breakfast!" she darted out of the room, and Ino chuckled. It had been so easy to take her for granted that when she lost her in the last battle against Oto at Sasuke's hand, the same day Naruto had proven his loyalty to her by taking a Chidori through the heart for her, and now she wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

Her mother would _not_ die. Naruto would _not_ have to do this alone. Her friends and family would _not_ suffer for the mistakes and power games of traitors and assholes like the Akatsuki and Orochimaru with the forces of good, the village of Konoha's shinobi populace. Pulling out a purple halter top, Ino scowled a little; with her preferred Taijutsu style, if she wore _this_ she'd flash everyone!

Rooting through her closet, she found a much better shirt, in the form of a short-sleeved dark blue that looked like flowing water, with a silver flower on the front. This would be perfect with her shorts. Pulling the black shorts on, she strapped on her shinobi gear, and reached for Shippuden No Akuma before hesitating, looking at the door, as her father's footsteps were getting closer.

Hissing a little in discomfort as her chakra coils began to burn with the amount of power she had retained from the future, Ino pulled out a simple piece of paper and inscribed a storage seal on it, blowing on it a few times to let it dry. It took about five minutes and her father's chakra signature was _right outside her door_ when she'd finished. Hiding the seal tag in her pocket, she turned to see her father walking in. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow "You're up earlier than I expected; normally your mother has to drag you out of bed," he commented.

Ino was torn between two reactions. One, run to the man, screaming and crying and embrace him as tightly as she possibly could. The problems with this reaction were that one, she'd have to explain herself and two, she'd get dragged before the Hokage with the blade Naruto had given her taken from her. Two, she could react like normal, but hide things, and attempt to be a 'better' daughter this time around. After all, they had been at odds when he'd died. Inoichi Yamanaka did not like Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze's relationship with his daughter, and thought it went beyond them being 'just friends', and it had led to Ino moving out shortly after the Retrieval mission went badly. She still trained with her father, but it had taken three years for him to see that Naruto was there as a shoulder to cry on.

The day he had seen that was the day Izumi died. Instead of running to him, Ino had taken Naruto to the hospital, using the Body Flicker to arrive practically in her father's hospital room and crying, holding onto Naruto's limp body. Sakura had revived him, but he had been unconscious for a grand total of an hour, and during that time, Inoichi had been able to see the depths of her friendship with Naruto.

'_Damn it, Daddy was right,'_ Ino thought, as when she thought of the blond, her cheeks became a little pinker, her pulse quickening _'I hadn't really thought anything of it, and I don't think he returns my feelings, though…'_ she smiled at her father "Well, I kinda fell out of bed, Daddy," she said, returning to the present and out of her memories quickly.

Inoichi laughed "That's a first; you _never_ fall out of bed. Did you have a dream or something?" Ino nodded "Was it bad?"

'_Some parts of it,'_ she thought, but instead she shrugged "I can't really remember it. I just remember a big white light, and then waking up covered in sweat, but I wiped that off with a towel from the bathroom," she lied, as there was a towel from last night's bath sitting on her floor, still a little damp "I've got to clean up a little, though, since I've got the time."

"Ok princess," Ino froze momentarily at the nickname; he hadn't called her 'princess' since she was thirteen "I'll see you at breakfast. Your mom's making potato pancakes, if you're hungry," he walked back downstairs and Ino unfroze herself, mentally berating herself for standing there like a stunned animal.

'_Now he probably thinks something's up,'_ Ino thought to herself, looking between her sword and the open door _'screw it, there's no one around,'_ she pulled the sheathed blade out from beneath the bedcovers, her arm completely tense. The sword was heavier than she remembered _'I've got to meet Naruto for training as soon as possible. OH SHIT!'_ Ino mentally slapped herself _'I completely forgot about Naruto! Idiot, idiot, idiot! Alright, task one, seal Akuma, task two, clean my room,'_ she told herself, and placed the storage seal on the blade's hilt.

"**Fuuin,**" Ino whispered. The seal was perfect; Naruto had taught her Fuuinjutsu and he was a slave driver when it came to training. She had accompanied him on the six-month training trip, which was actually six years, spent in a house that had a single year pass for a month, and only aged their bodies with the six months. Their strength had grown like they'd trained for six years, though, and both blonds were more than ready to take on the Akatsuki afterward.

Slipping the seal into her pocket, she used a bit of her ninja wire to tie the pocket shut, the knot being on the inside so she could only reach it with a claw or a kunai. She couldn't lose Akuma, not when it was Naruto's gift to her.

With a speed the twenty-one-year-old didn't know her twelve-year-old body possessed, she managed to clean up her room, and placed all of her Sasuke obsession items in a heap on the floor, including the shrine, with a big sign over them that said 'LEAVE FOR ME TO CLEAN UP LATER' in Ino's handwriting. Then, pulling on her black shinobi sandals and putting her shuriken pouch on her leg next to the kunai pouch that was already there, Ino headed for the bathroom.

While brushing her teeth, she noticed her long blond hair was quite messy, and pulled it out of the low ponytail she had kept it in, pulling out a thick-bristled brush from the cabinet. She ran the brush through her stubborn hair many times until she sighed, and just decided to call it good. Only for today would she wear that _stupid_ ponytail hairstyle that she'd gotten rid of when Naruto had started training with her.

"Ino-chan, come on, it's time for breakfast!" called Izumi, and Ino finished her morning routine without putting on any makeup aside from the usual slight eyeliner and mascara she used when she was in the Academy. Couldn't make the teachers suspicious, now could she?

Pleased with her deception, she made her way downstairs, and sat down at the table, putting two sausage patties (though she didn't _love _these, they would help her get through the day) and three potato pancakes (now _these_ were good) on her plate, before dousing the pancakes in ketchup and starting to eat, only pausing to wipe her mouth or drink water.

Her parents were unusually quiet. Frowning, Ino looked up at them, and both were staring at her. Izumi asked tentatively "Ino-chan, are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine Mom, why?" asked Ino, wiping her mouth again on her napkin. _'What could-oh. They think I'm still on that stupid diet that I dropped __right before the Chuunin Exams__ last time around.'_

"Aren't you on a diet, princess?" her father asked, and she could see the well-hidden suspicion in her eyes. Sighing, Ino put her free hand to her forehead. All this mess was starting to give her a headache, and she had no plan for the graduation exam! "Princess?"

"I'm alright Dad, just a little annoyed at the girl I used to be," Ino said, and both of her parents frowned "I decided that I'm going to go off the diet. I graduate today, after all, and I need to be in top form in case anything happens. Besides, I'm not going to lose to Sakura," _'this time around,'_ she added silently, as Sakura had beaten her in the book section last time by a single point.

Inoichi nodded, after surveying her suspiciously for a little while "Well then, princess, eat up. I want you to do well on your exam as well," he said with a smile, and Ino returned to her food.

"Are you sure you still want to do this, Ino-chan?" asked Izumi, looking at her seriously. Ino swallowed her food and raised an eyebrow; she'd picked up the gesture from Naruto "and how did you learn to do that?"

Ino mentally frowned; any affiliation with Naruto was enough to make Inoichi annoyed/angry/protective even now, so she replied "Iruka-sensei does it sometimes, so I just tried to copy it and it works when I want to ask a silent question," she shrugged "It could be useful in interrogation too."

Inoichi nodded, and then asked "Do you have any friends at the Academy other than your fellow rivals?"

That threw Ino for a loop, and she could either lie her way out of this one, and get caught (her father could always tell when she lied to him) or tell the truth, but tell it in such a way that Naruto wouldn't get caught "I have one, but they don't want me to talk much about them to others, something about their reputation being bad enough already," there, that much was true about Naruto. Plus, he'd do something noble this time around, so if she was careful, she could get out of this without being in trouble and onto Naruto's team!

'_And __that__ is how to lie by telling the truth, ladies and gentlemen,'_ Ino thought, keeping her attention focused on her food. Her mother asked "Are you sure you want to be a kunoichi?"

"Mom, I want to be a shinobi," she swallowed the last bite of her breakfast and after making sure there was nothing on her face, she closed her eyes _'I have a stronger reason than I did,'_ "The flashes of battles I dreamt about, some of them we won, some of them we lost. I was strong, but I wasn't strong because I was impressing Sasuke," she said.

Both of her parents stared at her. Inoichi asked "I thought you didn't remember much?"

"I was trying to work out what I could from what I _did_ remember, Daddy," she said, rolling her eyes like she used to and mentally grinning _'Let the games begin.'_ "I remember one fight in particular that has made me change my nindo. A friend, I know he was a friend, but more than that I cannot remember, threw himself in the way of a lethal jutsu to save my life," blinking back tears at the memory, she swallowed and continued "It's the same friend I can't really talk much about, I just know it. I want to protect my friends and family, and Shika and Chouji are more family than friends. If-if something," Ino swallowed, gathered her courage, and looked her parents straight in the eyes, her sky blue eyes ablaze with the Will of Fire "I will _not_ let anything happen to you when I can protect you. I want to be a shinobi because I want to be strong enough to protect those precious to me. I also want to help this friend save a dying light and improve his reputation; he's really not as bad as he's made out to be," she cleared her dishes to the sink, and looked at the clock "Shoot, I've got to go or I'll be late! Love you Mom, love you Daddy! Bye!"

With that she darted out the door, before they could ask more questions. Ino mentally sighed _'I hate lying to a mind-reader, damn it,'_ she thought. Her practice with Naruto made it possible, but difficult, for her to lie to her father. Instead of going directly to the Academy, she climbed up on the rooftops and began hopping from rooftop to rooftop, her legs starting to burn with the exercise.

She vowed to get weights as soon as possible and access to the Time House as soon as possible with Naruto's help. That way they could train without ending up wasting all this damn _time_! His ancestors had created it, and all she had done was use it with him.

Stopping on the last rooftop before the Academy, she could see a familiar orange-clad blond heading her way. Smiling, she jumped to the rooftop he was clinging onto for what looked like dear life, landing in front of him and offering him a hand.

Naruto grabbed her hand with his, and she pulled him onto the rooftop "Thanks Ino-chan; Kyuu isn't happy, especially since the eighth tail fuses in a month, so I got to get up at five thirty this morning," he grumbled to himself, and Ino put an arm around his shoulders, feeling him sag in relief against her.

"It's ok Naruto, I understand. I can't keep this mask on for much longer; how do you want to deal with graduation?" she asked him, and Naruto rubbed his temples "I kind of spent the morning lying to a mind reader and hiding Shippuden no Akuma from him, so I didn't have a lot of time to think."

"Yeah, I spent the morning convincing Jiji we weren't insane or controlled by Kyuubi," Naruto said with a groan, leaning on her "I hate this mask, and I'm dropping it the day of team assignments. We have a two-week break; you wanna train in the Time House during that time?" Ino nodded.

"I'd love to Naruto," she said "Now, since we've got time, and we're faster than most Genin hopefuls, can you tell me about your morning?"

Naruto nodded "It all started when I was awoken by Kyuubi at four thirty this morning, more importantly the fox was shrieking at me…"

**Four Thirty That Morning**

Naruto sat up in bed with a giant headache, and red chakra coiling around him, a fox head floating over his shoulder. Groaning, he looked at the clock, and rubbed his eyes "It's too early for this Kyuu, go back to bed."

"**I MOST CERTAINLY WILL NOT YOU STUPID BLOND BALD HUMAN!"** shouted the fox in his ear. Naruto growled and grabbed the chakra head.

"SHUT UP AND LET ME SLEEP! And if I'm blond, how am I bald?" he yelled at it, and felt a flicker of an ANBU presence; groaning, he glared at the fox-head "Great, now look what you've done. ANBU, I know you're there, come in please," he said, turning toward the window. Looking down at his hands, he mentally groaned _'Well at least we landed in the right timeline…'_

The ANBU that swung in was Kakashi's ANBU persona Inu. Inu's eyes widened comically at the sight of the red glowing fox-head hovering over Naruto's shoulder and, most likely, Naruto's appearance as it was, and he said "Naruto Uzumaki, what happened here?" It was more of a command, but Naruto didn't care enough to mention it now.

"Stupid fox won't shut up, and used the seal and its energy to form that," Naruto pointed to the fox-head, which smirked at him "Now I told you, Kyuubi, to _shut up_," Naruto's voice became very cold and his face went blank of any emotion as he glared at the fox, completely aware that his physical changes would make the ANBU curious, and threatened the fox "Unless you want to be missing a certain portion of your anatomy and be subjected to a version of Super Fuzzy Brows and Fuzzy Brows, then you will let me sleep, are we understood?"

Kyuubi growled at him **"I will not take orders from you. You are going to kill me soon enough anyway, within the year, so who cares? Oh, hello, weren't you the brat I"** the fox started as it looked at Inu, who Naruto recognized as Kakashi from the chakra signature.

Naruto's fist shot out and he infused it with enough chakra that he could grab the fox-head. He started choking it, a grim look on his face "I'm sorry Inu-san; the fox is not polite on the best of days, and today he is pissed off because I threatened to castrate him, and he has a headache to boot, I'm betting," the fox-head was starting to suffocate, but he didn't really care. "Would you like an explanation, Inu-san?" he asked, getting out of bed without releasing the fox.

Naruto's hair was more like his father's had been at this age, his whiskers were darker, he had slitted eyes, and his hair was tipped in blood-and-fire red, every single spike of it. Inu put a hand on his shoulder and nodded "I'm taking you to see Hokage-sama, before this situation gets out of hand. One question, is the fox really going to die in a year?"

Naruto nodded once, "I'll explain when we get there, Inu-san," he promised "I'll make sure jiji keeps you in the room," he sighed mentally as he began to plan out how to talk to the Hokage without him thinking he was controlled by the fox. Hmm…_'Showing up with a suffocating fox-head made of chakra will probably help my case,'_ he thought as they were caught up in the Shunshin and whisked to the Hokage's office. And it was at that time that Naruto noticed he was wearing nothing but a pair of boxers, orange ones at that. _'Great…'_

Sarutobi stared at his ANBU in surprise, and then his gaze fell to Naruto, who was still strangling the Kyuubi's chakra construct with one hand. His eyes widened and he said "What has just happened? Naruto, are you ok?"

Though it touched him to see his jiji so concerned about him, Naruto couldn't tell him much with the ANBU around, so instead, he'd try this. "The Light has succeeded," Naruto said, his voice falling back into the older one he'd used as Hokage "but at the cost of the Home. The Light has also found the Dawn, and returned to keep the Home safe from all, even those enemies within the Home at any point," his eyes met the Hokage's, and the old man stared back at him with eyes wider than what looked like dinner plates.

"Naruto, how do you know that? Or are you even really Naruto?" demanded Sarutobi, his eyes narrowing suspiciously "Kyuubi…"

"Jiji, may I use your crystal ball?" Naruto gestured with his free hand at the crystal ball "And as for why I'm strangling Kyuubi, or the chakra construct the fox made, well, the stupid _son of a bitch_ decided to wake me up at four thirty am to scream at me for what I did," he pointed again at the crystal ball "I can show you more if you let me use it."

"Very well, but if you are lying, intruder, know that I have ANBU stationed around here," Naruto tried and failed to hold back a chuckle as Sarutobi moved back from his desk and Naruto moved forward, shrugging off Inu's grasp easily as he put his hand on the crystal ball.

"One of these days I've got to thank Ero-sennin for letting me meet Tou-san," he remarked absently "It did wonders for me," he closed his eyes "Jiji, I'm certain you don't trust me, but if this information gets out to ROOT, which I know still exists, codenamed the Core, then there will be problems. Problems that will take me awhile to rectify," he looked the aged Hokage clear in the eyes "Please lock the office. As you said, if I am an intruder, you have ANBU guards, but you must make sure they do not have anything that could connect them to ROOT."

Sarutobi frowned again at him "How do you know of ROOT in the first place?" Naruto snorted; he'd killed Danzo himself in the future, and the man had been pathetic in comparison to his recruits. "What's so funny?"

"You'll see, just hear me out, and that's all I request of you. If not for the sake of the relationship between us, Jiji, then for my father's sake, listen to me," Naruto said seriously, looking the aged Hokage in the eyes "Please." He couldn't lose this chance. Not when it meant he could change everything. Something in his eyes must have convinced the Hokage, because he stared at him for a moment longer and then nodded his head.

"Very well. ANBU, come out," commanded Sarutobi. The ANBU that appeared were ones Naruto recognized by chakra signature, along with Kakashi/Inu who was now standing in front of the door. Yuugao Uzuki and Hayate Gekkou; this was good, neither of them bore _any_ loyalties to ROOT, and after making an extra check around the office for any chakra signatures, using the chakra signature of the living tree that made up part of the Hokage's office, thanks to the Shodai Hokage, to make sure. No one could blend in their chakra perfectly unless they were a Sage, and no one could escape from the Rokudaime's chakra sensing.

A single eavesdropping seal's purpose was burnt out as he passed his chakra through it, but there was no one in the office even after his search "Good, I do need you to close the door though," he nodded to the door, and Inu closed it without him speaking "alright. I know you will not believe me unless you see this, but my full name is _not_ Naruto Uzumaki; you _know_ this," he stared right at his 'jiji', who swallowed, staring back at him "This is my proof for what has happened, and the seal was delayed in activating because…well, you'll see," with that, he formed _one_ hand-seal, and placed his hand back on the ball "**Senjutsu: Memory Share**," he whispered, channeling Kyuubi's chakra (a little), his own chakra, and the yellow chakra used in the Hiraishin (his bloodline) into the crystal "Jiji, I want you to _watch_," he said, as the crystal reacted to the jutsu.

It turned into what looked like a TV screen, unfolding to become a giant, floating glass screen, which was hung in front of the door (which had a Do Not Disturb sign on its handle hanging outside), beneath the pictures of the Hokages. Naruto swallowed hard as the Sandaime said "Naruto…what is this?"

"I want you to see this, Jiji," Naruto said firmly "Starting with the day of the sealing," he waved his hand and the setting changed to the Kyuubi attack. Everyone's eyes were glued to the screen, even Naruto's, despite the fact that the hanyou Hokage was trying not to cry at the memories it drew up.

The memories took the Hokage down a very different path, beginning with Mizuki's betrayal and Naruto's unorthodox graduation, and Inu saw how he became Team Seven's sensei, how the team was doomed from the start, their first Chuunin Exams and the Invasion of Konoha with the death of the Sandaime Hokage at the hands of Orochimaru (still, things seemed like they might recover), Sasuke's defection, and it seemed like that turned things for the worst.

Even the training trip with Jiraiya and Naruto meeting his parents, the seals on his body placed there over his lifetime having been permanently erased (as his father had taught him a way to keep this from happening again as well), and his eventual confrontations with the Akatsuki, starting when Gaara was taken. Naruto's confrontations with the Akatsuki were almost always deadly. One by one, starting with Asuma, every precious person Naruto had ever had in his life began falling, ending finally with the destruction of Konoha by Madara and Naruto's loss of control as the Rokudaime Hokage, as his beloved home (and his precious people, for by then the village had become his precious people) were destroyed, leaving naught but Ino left.

Ino's growth and development was frightening, starting right about when Asuma died. Yuugao's shocked gasp at the sword she was given told Naruto he'd done right by giving it to her, and his mastery of the Hiraishin (he'd skipped past the seals that activated and deactivated the Time House and the location, reserving that knowledge for the Namikaze clan head) and subsequent devastation of the opposing forces in the 4th Great Shinobi World War, earning himself the nickname Konoha no Shinku Senkou (Konoha's Crimson Flash) for the amount of blood he spilled with a single flash and Kyuubi, of course. Ino's growth into her own person also seemed to shock Sarutobi, especially the close relationship the two had shared.

It ended with Naruto drawing the seal and activating the jutsu that would send them to the past, and they had decided on the day quickly, given the time limit placed on the jutsu after the seal had been drawn. Naruto sighed, and turned back to the Hokage, as the memories showed what had woken him and how he had startled the ANBU, before waving his hand once more, and stopping the memories.

"Do you believe me now, Hiruzen?" releasing the chakra constructed Kyuubi head, he folded his arms "Do you have _any_ idea how much those seals destabilized the Shiki Fuujin? Oh sure, I recognize the need for a tracer seal, but a _death_ seal…" Naruto shook his head "Tou-san was not pleased. Need I show you that particular conversation? He was close to exploding and promised, since he was sent to a part of heaven known as Valhalla, instead of being trapped in eternal torment for his sacrifice, to kick your ass around for _years_. I don't think he'd finished when we went back in time, actually," Naruto said thoughtfully.

The old Hokage sighed "I believe you Naruto. I can't _not_ believe you; the Memory Share jutsu is not something that can be faked, and your mastery over it tells me that Jiraiya must have trained you just as he trained your father, am I correct?" Naruto nodded "As for the death seal that was in case someone managed to partially open the Shiki Fuujin and extract Kyuubi; similar concerns were the reasoning behind the tracer seal. Now, I also had no idea that your younger self would _not_ open the Shiki Fuujin, Naruto, so I had to take precautions."

Naruto frowned at him "You know, this _is_ a dictatorship," he waved his hand once more and the office, which had darkened so they could watch the memories, grew lighter again, the orb becoming nothing more than a crystal ball and falling into his outstretched left hand "I wasn't going to tell you this originally, jiji. The only reason I told you is because Ino-chan convinced me. I'm also considering what to change," his eyes glared into the Hokage's "The changes are _meant_ to happen and I don't _care_ if my knowledge is useless. Nor does Ino-chan. We both know most shinobi have no idea of the direction things are going to take and neither of us give a damn about that, so none of that 'no changing stuff' crap. The point of this is to change things. As for my original point, you should be capable of saying 'fuck the council'. Come on jiji, you're the Kami no Shinobi, for Kami-sama's sake," he shrugged "but it's up to you. The big change I want to make is keeping Sasuke in the village, but I'll settle for killing off Orochimaru and the Akatsuki painfully, piece by piece, if that doesn't work."

The Sandaime, Kakashi/Inu (who had remained in the room, as the guard for the door), Yuugao/Neko, and Hayate/Ghost stared at him. A stunned Hiruzen Sarutobi replied "Naruto…I will take your advice. You and Ino have, active immediately, positions in ANBU open to you if you wish and Sannin-level clearance," he looked at Naruto sadly "I should not have made the decisions I did, concerning your situation, but in spite of the poor decisions I made in light of retaking office were corrected by you quite quickly, I presume, within the first week of your reign as Hokage. I will correct what I may, but I have far more limited power, just like Tsunade did and unlike you, who was worshipped as a hero by the time you became Hokage, like Minato. All I ask is that you have a plan for what you change. Kakashi, Yuugao, Hayate, as he already knows _all_ of you and your ANBU associations, remove your masks," he instructed.

"**Oi, bald monkeys!"** yelled the fox-head, annoyed at being ignored. Naruto turned his glare on the head while using the full force of his KI that had the ANBU (even Kakashi) trembling as Naruto flexed his claws, and smiled coldly at Kyuubi, showing his sharp teeth. He still needed to get his revenge for having gotten up so early, after all.

"I believe you need to go back to the seal now, so goodnight for good, Kyuu-_chan_," he said, flicking the fox-head in the forehead, and causing it to dissipate as he channeled his chakra into his stomach, re-activating the seal. He turned back to the Hokage and the three ANBU, all of whom had their masks off, with a warm smile on his face "Sorry; the fox needs some comeuppance for waking me up this early. I only get up this early on _normal_ days, not days when I'm adjusting to a new timeline. Days generally when there is an attack," he shrugged, "but that's what happened."

Naruto could see with his new, yet old eyes that only the Sandaime seemed only surprised, with the other three looking varying degrees of fearful and shocked. Sighing to himself, he let his gaze rest on Hayate, who had died in the Sand-Sound Invasion. He'd have to correct that; _'and I have just the blade to do it,'_ thought the hanyou, smirking.

"Naruto," Kakashi finally said, staring at him "Is-are you really Minato-sensei's son?" the ANBU looked like he was on the verge of breaking down, and Naruto remembered with a pang how the Jounin had found out the hard way in the old timeline, by accompanying Naruto to the Kage Summit, where he had revealed his full power in a full-out battle with Sasuke's team and killed Juugo and Suigetsu, taking Karin prisoner; she had defected to their side not long afterward, mesmerized by Naruto's chakra.

Naruto closed his eyes, and sighed "You still have Tou-san's kunai; I can feel it from here," Kakashi nodded, looking shocked, and Naruto smirked, vanishing in a yellow flash to the ceiling "Believe me now, Kakashi?" he asked, looking down at the shocked Jounin.

"H-H-Hai," Kakashi said, gulping "You-Hiraishin-when?"

"Fifteen, Time House period with Ino-chan," Naruto explained with a smile "Now, looking at the time, I-oh shoot," Naruto said, flipping down from the ceiling, looking at the clock as his stomach growled "Jiji, I want breakfast, it's six thirty in the morning, and I can answer your questions here. Do you have anything I could eat?"

Hiruzen chuckled and handed him a cup of instant ramen. Naruto opened it and sniffed the contents warily, wary of whatever gifts he may receive. While he loved ramen, in the old timeline he'd been poisoned three times through his ramen before realizing how to detect toxins. In this one he didn't _smell_ any poisons, but just to be sure, he placed his hand over the cup and channeled just a little chakra into it, using his chakra in a simple poison-detect ability that he'd developed when he was fourteen.

The seasoning packet and ramen were exactly that. Instead of using the water heater in the room, Naruto condensed the air, using his chakra, and heated that water, closing the ramen cup over after pouring the seasoning in with his chakra. He looked up only to see Kakashi, Sarutobi, Yuugao and Hayate looking at him with varying degrees of sadness in their eyes.

"I'm used to it; as Hokage it lessened, but assassins' poisons don't do much for me," Naruto said "I just had to become careful because I nearly got poisoned with one nasty little one that stopped my healing factor," he winced "that wasn't a fun day, and Tsunade-baa-chan just happened to hit me through a few walls that day as well. I'm damn lucky I was physically that strong, or I would have been toast," he looked over at the ramen "Ask away."

For the rest of the morning in between bites of pork ramen, he listened to their questions and answered them as best he could. When he'd finished his breakfast, Sarutobi clapped his hands "Well Naruto, I believe you, and I will give you the ANBU masks now. You and Ino are to become the Kiiroi Kitsune and, err, what mask would Ino like?" he asked, seeing Naruto twirling the Kitsune mask on one fingertip "And where did you get that?"

"Ino-chan would like her Lion mask, and as for this, I made it and I still have all my weapons from the future, jiji," he said firmly, looking him in the eyes "I want Ino-chan to replace Sakura on Team Seven. Split up the Ino-Shika-Chou trio; give us an excuse to become friends," he swallowed, remembering how things had gone the first time.

Kakashi had died going up against the Yonbi. Ino had been so angry she had destroyed the bijuu, exploding with all of the power she'd gained over the years, and as Kakashi died, he watched Ino's final attack _destroy_ a bijuu, which was formerly believed to be impossible. Kakashi had died in his arms, and Naruto had promised his sensei he would stop the Akatsuki. He had…at the cost of Konoha. The only way to kill a bijuu was to hit it with an attack powerful enough to destroy its spirit…which meant it had to be good enough to beat a tailed beast of a higher level. Tailed Demon Lords were thought to be impossible to kill, but in reality, if one had more power than the bijuu they were facing, they were possible to kill, but they have to be prepared to absorb the bijuu's power.

Yuugao had died the same day, against the same demon. He had held her hand as she died and promised to beat back the Yonbi, but of course then Kakashi-sensei fell and Ino snapped. He had felt it coming, and he himself had snapped facing Madara when the man had attempted to summon his parents. Exploding in a rage he had not believed he possessed, he had obliterated Madara with the Fuujin no Rasen Shuriken, or Spiral Shuriken of the Wind God, so angry he couldn't control himself.

Hayate, well, he had an idea to keep him from dying, and if things went right, Kakashi and Yuugao did not have to die the way they did last time. And if he could, he would defeat Gaara earlier and intercept the fight with Orochimaru, though he _hoped_ the Hokage would keep what he'd been shown in mind when facing the former man, now…corrupt…thing.

"Alright, if you have what you need, then you and Ino are automatically members of ANBU with Sannin-level clearance," Sarutobi looked him in the eyes "I trust and respect you Naruto, and while I know the respect you had for me was damaged by the knowledge of the seals, I know you don't _need_ seals. You are a Seals Master; you'd remove them anyway. Go on, go dress and head to the Academy. As for team assignments, I'll take what you said into consideration…but what about her former teammates?"

"I'll ask Ino-chan, jiji," Naruto said, smiling "I promise. We just have to work out a way for her parents to accept her as my friend, because you know Inoichi and Izumi don't trust me, and Inoichi was good friends with my father, so…" he trailed off, his gaze turning faraway and sad "I don't want to be the reason Ino-chan loses her relationship with her parents this time around. Last time she made the choice to leave them because they thought we were lovers, when you know the two of us are still untouched," Sarutobi nodded.

"Well, if things get bad enough, I'll have words with them," Sarutobi promised "but until then, I'll leave things up to you. Any ideas for Hayate-san?"

"Yes, give me a week though Hayate," he said, looking at the ANBU "I'll have something ready that you can use to stay alive against Baki and Gaara, I promise," Hayate looked at him in shock, and nodded "One more thing, do you have the lung illness?" the sickly man nodded, coughing. Rolling his eyes, he turned to the Hokage "Can I heal him?"

"Go right ahead," said Sarutobi "Hayate?" Naruto looked up at the ANBU curiously, who moved closer, and the hanyou could clearly see the illness was taking its toll on the man.

"Can you?" asked Yuugao worriedly "or even make it better, easier to live with?" her love for Hayate was clear in her face, and Naruto reached up, placing one hand on the man's chest.

"I was right, damn it all," Naruto said, frowning. The poison was one used widely in the 4th World War, enough so that all shinobi had been immunized to that poison. It was nasty, concocted by Orochimaru and Sasori working together and it was an airborne toxin that combined with the hydrogen and nitrogen once inside a person's lungs to poison them "I can make you immune, just give me a second," Naruto formed hand-seals, remembering that this illness had been part of the reason the man had not survived the invasion. Youki swirled around his hands and he placed both of them on Hayate's chest "**Demonic Art: Healing Hands**," Naruto intoned, pressing his hands, which glowed with a soft golden-yellow light, down sharply and causing Hayate to exhale quickly "**Poison immunization**," he murmured.

He caught the ANBU, wincing as the full strength from his hanyou form began returning, putting strain on his chakra coils "Damn, guess I'll have to get to work later," he said, handing Hayate to a grateful Yuugao "He'll be alright, a little weak for the rest of the day, but otherwise he'll be free of that poison and he'll be immune to poisons, which don't include alcohol, so he can still get drunk," shaking his head at them, he said "I'm going to go home and get ready for the Academy so Ino-chan doesn't think I skipped out on her."

"And that's been my morning," Naruto finished, looking her in the eyes "I swear, I can't wait for team assignments." It had been a long morning for him and all Naruto wanted was to put his head down on a desk and sleep. He'd never liked this sort of thing before and it was even more tiring to do it now "At least we know what we're doing."

Ino frowned at him "So, what do you want to do Naruto? I mean, if we go in there acting like we're suddenly friends, there'll be a ton of questions and they won't believe us. My parents…well, I think you can fill that part in by yourself," she winced at the memory and so did Naruto. Inoichi had forcibly dragged her away from training with him three times when he'd caught them together, all under the assumption that he was 'protecting his princess'. This was before Naruto had gone for Sage training, because after it he had proven himself in the eyes of the village; Inoichi hadn't trusted him enough to not believe they were dating, though, and had believed they were until the day he died.

Hopefully this time they could get rid of that suspicion by being assigned as teammates "Well, Ino-chan, do you want to take Sakura's place on Team Seven this time around?" he asked. She looked back at him, frowning "You don't have to, but ji-chan wanted me to get an answer before team assignments so he could brief Kakashi-sensei and Asuma-sensei," explained Naruto, seeing the hesitation in Ino's gaze.

Cell Seven was known as the Doomed Cell, because each of the Genin cell's members behaved like one of the Legendary Sannin, to an extent. As it turned out Sasuke was the worst of the lot of them, and instead of dying at the hands of another opponent, the mini-Tsunade, Sakura, had died at Sasuke's hands. Then again, if Sakura's apprenticeship or his apprenticeship went to another team, even while he _really_ didn't want to leave his friends behind, there might not be a defection.

Naruto would need to be on Sasuke's team. He was the only person that could respond accordingly when the Uchiha decided to attempt a defection. He had beaten Sasuke once, he could do it again. And Ino would be extra reassurance; besides, after working as partners for so long, Naruto didn't want to let Ino go back to Team Ten.

On the other hand, if Ino went back to Team Ten, she could go on that mission that caused Asuma-sensei's death. Maybe they could speak with the Hokage about team training, because she wouldn't be able to let go of her ties to Chouji, Shikamaru and Asuma so easily, but at the same time, she couldn't leave Naruto alone with the Uchiha and Sakura…could she?

Naruto had two weeks to work out a plan. Sarutobi could work out a plan for how they would be absent from their families during the next two weeks, but for now, they had to go through their day like it was normal.

Looking at his watch, Naruto swore "Damn, we've been talking for too long; you'd better get going if you want to keep others in the dark about your change from liking Sasuke," he said, and Ino sighed.

"I don't know about the team assignments, Naruto. I know you _have_ to be on Sasuke's team-he's a flight risk, and you're the only one who can make that go away. At the same time, if I split you guys up, I'm not sure if we can keep Sakura from feeling unwanted. How about we work on it during the next two weeks, and tell the Hokage at the end?" she asked, smiling at him. She placed her hand on his "I am _not_ letting you just leave, my blond Hokage teammate," she added more softly, but fiercely "You are not going to be alone. Even if it means taking time out of our own training time, if we decide to leave the teams as they were, I will find a way to see you every day I can. I promise."

"I know, Ino-chan," Naruto said, smiling genuinely back at her "Now you'd better get going, unless you want to fight Sakura for a seat. Maybe if you unnerve her in a fortnight that will make her come to her senses…or maybe not," both blonds chuckled, thinking of Sakura, who had been a great medic when she was older, and killed by Sasuke as one of the last survivors (she'd died when they were twenty, quite a feat for one of their friends, and she had died to give Naruto the time he'd needed to kill Sasuke).

Hopefully things wouldn't come to that this time; Naruto pulled himself out of his thoughts as he watched his blond teammate and partner from the future jump to the ground, make sure she looked like she'd just gotten there, and walked over to Sakura, the pair trading familiar insults.

"Hey, pig!" shouted Sakura "I'll beat you to a seat next to Sasuke-kun today!"

"Not on your life, forehead!" shouted Ino, but there was an underlying tone of sadness as the blond Yamanaka raced into the building audible in her voice. Naruto sighed; _I'm sorry, Ino-chan. I wish we didn't have to hide. And I hope we can save them. I can use the jutsu again if we fail, but I would rather not._

Mentally sighing Naruto pulled up the stupid orange-wearing mask, and hopped down from the rooftop, shouting something about being one step closer to being Hokage after he finished his exam today as he raced inside. He really hated this mask and would be very, very grateful for a chance to drop it.

All in due time, though. All in due time. He could drop his mask during his 'graduation' tonight, if he was careful about how he handled it and let Mizuki believe that the Hokage didn't know about his 'theft'. The first time around, Sarutobi hadn't been aware of it. This time, though, he already knew what would happen, so this would be his first mission as Kitsune (no one dared take up the Kitsune mask after the Kyuubi attack, this he knew). Shishi was also a rare mask to see, so Ino was probably safe, and she could always call herself Kin Shishi, if things got that far (Golden Lion).

He couldn't wait to see Iruka-sensei again. With that thought in mind, Naruto ran into the building after Ino and Sakura with a smile on his face.

AND CUT! I know that one was long, but the chapters vary in length depending on the content. This one details what they did after their arrival. Next chapter: Graduation.

Warning, the next chapter is long. I'm sorry, but I wanted to include their perspectives on everything. The chapters will write themselves for me. I'm just listening to music and letting my fingers type-and no, I'm not kidding. They write themselves.

Please review!

Bijuu-Tailed Beasts

Yonbi-Four Tailed beast—in this universe, the Yonbi is a hawk bijuu. May seem unimportant right now but will be later, I promise.

KILLNG TAILED BEASTS: They're believed to be immortal spirits and with both divine and demonic chakra, they are. The bijuu, the _original_ bijuu are corrupt, but it's hard to wound them because they're so powerful. It will be important later, so just pay attention to that.

Note 1: Naruto calls Ino, 'Ino-chan' because of their close friendship. Make of it what you will, but I won't be using honorifics in the normal way (I find it a little creepy if older men call Naruto 'Naruto-kun' and stuff like that, so if you just read on you'll get used to my writing style).

Note 2: Kakashi is not an evil bastard. Kitsune means fox spirit, and Kin means gold. Shishi is lion. I apologize for Naru/Hina fans but Hinata is going to end up happy…just not with Naruto. I have trouble writing a decent Naru/Hina but I love reading them.

Note 3: I am undecided about including an OC in Team Ten which would mean that Ino gets to be on Team Seven. I don't think it will happen; don't hold your breath, but your reviews will sway me in this direction or another one. The OC will be a Yamanaka so the trio isn't split.

Note 4: Naruto and Ino are both decent medic-nin; they were taught by Tsunade and Sakura in their future so they know healing jutsu. There is a good reason for this…almost all powerful shinobi in their future had medical training because it meant the difference between life or death on the battlefield.

Note 5: The Time Mansion has some rules. Those will be explained in a different A/N since this one's getting long, just know that they'll make mistakes and their goal is to save their future. Currently their chakra is overloading their bodies, and that will be mended next chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

I still don't own Naruto, I'm sorry. You can try but I don't think you can suddenly become Japanese when you were born Caucasian. I have a pairing in mind; it will be revealed next chapter.

**Chapter Three: Graduation**

Naruto entered the classroom with a fake, goofy grin on his face "Yo, Iruka-sensei!" he cried, turning toward the Chuunin instructor who smiled at him. Iruka-sensei had died at the very last, giving Naruto time to destroy Madara and the beast he'd managed to unleash, a beast that should not have been possible to release without Kyuubi's power, but he'd somehow managed it. It was nameless, but Naruto preferred to think of it as Chronos (it was like chaos, so it made sense to him).

Not this time. Never again, if he could help it, would he see Iruka's entire chest just ripped away, leaving half his bones and his head still there, telling him with his dying breath to get rid of that thing or die trying. Iruka was good at many things, one of which was surviving when others couldn't. Iruka's vitality nearly matched Naruto's, and the man was a very quick healer (so quick Naruto had suspected he wasn't human) and he'd been trusted with the information a few weeks before he'd made Hokage.

Iruka was actually a water dragon. Naruto didn't mind, especially since he was a hanyou by that point in time officially with five tails of Kyuubi's power, going on six. Iruka had feared discovery by his fellow shinobi and rejection by those precious to him if he had revealed himself. Naruto had simply looked at him in water dragon form and hugged him, which had nearly overwhelmed the then-Specialized Jounin. When he had died he'd been an Elite Jounin.

"Naruto," Iruka looked at him the same way he remembered and for a moment, memory was so painful it made tears nearly come to his eyes. "Go sit down, and try not to cause trouble today," he instructed, waving a hand in the general direction of the seats.

Naruto grinned foxily at him and walked over to Sakura "Sakura-chan! Good morning!" he cried, and Ino winked at him slyly when no one was looking. Sakura, of course, went into Full Banshee Mode, and started shrieking at him to shut up, accompanying it with a punch "You didn't have to be so mean about it, Sakura-chan…" he said, faking his hurt as he sat down for class.

"LEAVE ME ALONE NARUTO-BAKA!" shouted Sakura, the Fan Girl of Sasuke Uchiha. A moment later, twin squeals, one delayed slightly, entered the former Hokage's hearing and he turned in his seat so he could see his partner, Ino.

Surely enough, she and Sakura had latched themselves onto Sasuke's arms, and Naruto snorted to himself, seeing the carefully hidden disgust in Ino's eyes. She had liked Sasuke to the point of obsession before, but this was all an act.

"Ino-pig! I won't lose to you, shannaro!" shouted Sakura, glaring across Sasuke at Ino. Naruto sighed, shaking his head slightly_ Does he __ever__ learn? Maybe a Kawarimi?_

"I won't lose to you either forehead!" Ino returned, though she glanced at Naruto, letting him know with the brief eye contact that she felt him watching them. Sakura didn't waver in her gaze on Ino, and she had no idea the Yamanaka had even broken eye contact, from what it looked like.

Naruto looked at the rest of the classroom, deciding not to lose his 'first kiss' to Sasuke again, even if it meant he was going to act 'out of character'. Hinata had arrived; the memory swirled up before his eyes before he could stop it. Hinata, giving her life up to save her husband and child's lives, who had died in the next raid. She had been nineteen, saving Kiba's and her daughter Hannah's lives, and of course, the Inuzukas hadn't lasted long.

Kiba had gone out in the next raid right after Akamaru, falling in defense of the two-year-old Hannah, who died at the hands of Kabuto himself. Naruto and Ino had arrived on the scene and in a fury the pair of blonds had decimated the opposing forces, but it was too late for their friends' sakes. Lee had gone even sooner, protecting a pregnant Sakura, whose baby had been killed by Sasuke…

_I won't let it happen again. __We__ won't let it happen again,_ Naruto vowed, bringing himself out of the spiral of memories. _You're all alive now and we have time, not to mention power we didn't have before. If worst comes to worst, I'll take you all to the Time House, but I will __not__ watch my friends fall again. Not when I can do something about it._

"SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!"shouted Iruka-sensei, using the Big Head no Jutsu. Ino slid into a seat next to Naruto, looking put-out, but slipped her hand underneath the desk to place a note in his hand. Naruto pulled the note out just enough to see it. It was written in the code used in the village after the deaths of Hinata and Kiba.

'_Kitsune-_

_Bored much? I can't wait for the masks to fall off. How badly do you want to shock them? And how long are we going to stay in the Time House? Please, __please__ tell me it'll be long enough to make you and I look a little more like, well, ourselves…_

_-Kin Shishi'_

Naruto smiled slightly, and gently tapped out a message in return in code on her hand 'Yes', 'knock their socks off bad', 'as long as is possible even if it means sharing a little blood'.

Ino blinked at him, and Iruka called "Naruto Uzumaki!"

Naruto snapped up his head and cried "Here Iruka-sensei, and ready to take the next step to becoming Hokage, believe it!" Ino almost snorted and he smirked to himself; he really _did_ mask himself well.

"Ino Yamanaka!" called Iruka, and Ino raised her hand, grinning.

"Here, Iruka-sensei!" she called clearly, and as Naruto watched, Iruka frowned a little, looking at the two blonds. Naruto quickly pulled the mask back up and leaned back in his chair, 'grinning' widely at the whole class. He _knew_ he would ace this test, and so would Ino, so he'd have to purposely get the answers wrong.

When Iruka's eyes returned to the attendance list, Naruto quickly wrote out an answer in the same code, and handed the note back to Ino. It read:

'_Kin Shishi-_

_What should I do about the exams I failed last time? Should I purposely fail the exams like before, or should I do better on them and then try to catch Mizuki?_

_-Kitsune'_

Ino tapped out a reply 'fail them again'. Naruto glanced at her and quirked an eyebrow slightly enough that only someone who was looking for it would see it. She wrote out a quick note.

'_Kitsune-_

_We need some things to work as closely to the original as possible. We just went __back in time__, so while some things will be different, like maybe our teams and our strength levels, the overall timeline __needs to stay the same__, up until graduation. That's when we bring in the big guns and start changing __everything__, and that is when we can decide how to split up the strength. I mean…would it really be fair on Sakura to stick her with Shika and Chouji? I need some advice on my team assignment choice._

_-Kin Shishi'_

Naruto would have replied, except Mizuki passed by their table, and glared at him. Naruto looked back at him with that same cocky 'smile' on his face, and the man picked up the note Naruto had been about to write on.

"Just for that, you shouldn't be allowed to take the test," sneered Mizuki "What is this, doodles?" he looked at the code, which made no sense to him "This is a bunch of gibberish!"

Naruto just looked back at him with the same 'smile' on his face, his hands behind his head in the cocky pose he'd adopt whenever his masked self wanted to portray his defiance and belief in his own talents.

"Because we might finally be free of you, I'll let this slide, but any more doodling and you're getting held back a year," snarled Mizuki, ripping the paper up and throwing it at Naruto. Naruto didn't appear fazed and neither did Ino, though she and the rest of the class had witnessed the way Mizuki spoke to Naruto. His voice was filled with loathing and hatred.

Naruto only smiled, and brushed himself off, making sure the paper scraps fell to the floor. While he was doing this, he looked apologetically at Ino, who let her shoulders rise and fall slightly, saying silently 'what can we do? It's alright.'

"Now, today, as you all know, is the graduating exam. Anyone that does not want to take it, please raise your hands now," no one raised their hands to Iruka's words, "Alright, since all of you are taking it, Mizuki-sensei and I will be handing out your exam papers. I would warn you in advance that any cheating will result in an automatic fail and that if you fail this portion of the test, it will be harder to advance to Genin level. You also fail if you talk, to anyone or for any reason." Iruka's expression was stern "No questions then, we'll be handing out the papers now."

Next to him, Ino tapped out a message by looking like she was bored and playing with her pen. _'Kitsune, calm down. We've got all week.'_

Meeting her gray-blue gaze for a moment he nodded very slightly and his attention returned to the rest of the class afterward. _I am going to __have__ to take up using a mental bond with her soon. This is starting to irritate me._

Mizuki and Iruka handed out exam papers, and when his exam paper was placed before him Naruto sniffed the air silently, and then the paper. Mizuki's chakra coated the paper like glue, and the Genjutsu'd questions were much harder than the real ones. Unfortunately for the Chuunin, Naruto had discovered the Genjutsu and simply blinked, allowing his eyes to gain slitted pupils, and channeled just a little bit of chakra into the paper. Almost immediately he could see the real questions.

Writing his name in purposely messy kanji at the top of the paper, and making sure it was the kanji for 'maelstrom' and not 'fishcake', he proceeded to look at the first question.

'_1. What is chakra made of?'_

This would be so _easy_ if he was _allowed_ to use his real skills. However, he saw Ino purposely write out a message on her paper in code as if she was doodling while she answered the questions.

'_Don't change the test!'_

He muttered "I won't, don't worry," and she continued doing her test while Naruto made a big show of thinking, without speaking. He also purposely screwed up the answers to the easy questions while he answered the most difficult ones with a long written-out answer, just to show (because these had been taught by Iruka to him) that _yes_, he _had_ been paying attention in Iruka's class, since the teacher had paid attention to him. He was crediting it to Iruka-sensei.

It took him only half an hour to finish the paper test. The final question, #100, was one he could not answer, because technically it was a trick question. So instead, he began slowly inscribing a seal, but with pencil, not ink, so it looked like a simple drawing.

'_100. Describe in detail the battle between the Yondaime Hokage and the Kyuubi no Kitsune.'_

Then he pointed an arrow to it, and wrote next to it in neat script _'I am unable to answer this question as I do not want to break the law. I know what really happened-I can also describe the fight in so much detail you wouldn't believe me. If you are Iruka Umino you will be capable of reading this _after_ the night of graduation. If you are anyone else and you decide to open this seal…there's a nasty surprise waiting for you and if you ever want to have children, I wouldn't open it._

_I only tell what really happened to people I trust. If you really think I believe that load of BS you say about how the fox is dead, tell me just one thing. Why was the Yondaime late to the battlefield that night? Surely, because he was the fastest man alive, he would have been capable of flashing to the battlefield. So why did it take him so long to get to the battlefield? What could have __possibly__ kept him? I'll leave this up to your imagination, again, unless you are Iruka Umino. In which case, channel chakra into the seal and read the nice long report._

_Have a nice day Mizuki-teme. –NN'_

Naruto then proceeded to look at the first 2 double-sided pages (which were the easy questions he was screwing up on purpose to get the score of dobe) and have a thinking expression on his face the whole time as if he was trying to decipher something. A nudge from Ino dropped a paper ball into his hand. Quickly he unfolded it while still looking at the paper, and then he put a hand on his head, looking down at the paper, as if he was trying to keep thinking. They had one and a half hours left after all, and they were both going to be very, very bored if they had no entertainment.

'_Kitsune-_

_I saw that note. That should really throw all of your teachers off, considering how neat the kanji is. It's also unmistakably your handwriting because you just have that distinct handwriting style your father has. It's kind of funny. I also love how you signed it NN-give them something to think about! So, which tests __didn't__ you fail to pass the class? I mean, you had to have had a score close to passing in order not to fail epically last time._

_-Kin Shishi'_

Immediately he made it look like he was doodling as he thought, scratching out a reply.

'_Kin Shishi-_

_Thanks. I wanted to throw the biggest prank I could think of into their lap; it will be really, __really__ funny if Mizuki-teme rises to the bait. You finished already? And how many of those could you __not__ answer? You actually paid attention to the BS they taught us about Tou-san. I didn't fail the Taijutsu exam, the obstacle course exam, or the ranged weapons exam but only just on the Taijutsu. It's going to be really hard for me to not react as the Rokudaime Hokage would, but I'll do my best._

_I know about that and I failed twice and improved where I failed. I learn everything from failure. As a great man once said, the man who invented the light bulb; "I didn't fail 2,000 times in trying to make a light bulb. I just discovered 2,000 ways __not__ to make a light bulb." It only takes one try to get things right, but if you get things wrong and you learn from them, as I did and have done for all of my life, then you learn far more. Everyone can teach you something worthwhile, even patience when you're dealing with an idiot (or people who think you're an idiot)._

_Also, I just barely passed the __chakra control__ test, but my score was literally 40 points behind the original dead-last of the class. Besides, Hiruzen will put me on Sasuke's team. He knows I'm the only one who stands a chance against him aside from you should he decide to defect and I do __not__ want to hunt his sorry ass down in Otogakure, but I will if I have to. Sorry about the long note, but I need some entertainment. I learned how to sit still, sure, but that doesn't mean I don't need something to do and since you're here, why don't we hold a message conversation?_

_If I were to raise my grades in the obstacle course and thrown weaponry I'd still be the dobe and still be on Sasuke's team. Tell me what you think._

_-Kitsune'_

Ino stared at the note for about five minutes flat, reading it and rereading it to make sure she hadn't made a mistake, before writing her response to him. Looking at him now, she could see the man that had become the Rokudaime and the Kage of the Shinobi Nations thanks to unanimous election at the Kage Summit. And he looked damn cute.

_No. I am not his girlfriend. I will not swoon over my partner and commander like this._ She continued to tell herself, as she wrote back to him. Handing him the note, she watched him unfold it.

'_Kitsune-_

_By all means, raise your grade in both areas. Just don't show off too badly please; I don't want you to be put on another team, or heaven forbid not able to graduate at all because they think you're under Kyuubi's control. Since we look like our 12-year-old selves, I wonder…can we make Kakashi suffer for being late?_

_I remember what the answers were because an exact copy of this test was given out to the Academy students a few years ago and I was the one grading it. Plus, when you teach all this stuff to kids as a Chuunin, which you completely bypassed on your training trip with Jiraiya (which is completely fine, believe me it would have scared them if their Rokudaime asked to teach at the Academy or Kami forbid enter the __Chuunin Exams__) you learn it like the back of your hand._

_I cannot __believe__ the shit they came out with for the BS story. It's not even realistic-it's INSULTING! I don't even want to write it here! Basically, they know nothing of the real battle, so they describe in detail how the Shinigami drags your father and the Kyuubi to Hell…which pisses me off. Anyway…_

_As for prank ideas, didn't you prank the Hokage Monument yesterday in __this__ timeline? Besides, I don't think __one__ day without pranks is going to make them overly suspicious of you. Channel that energy into figuring out what we'll do to hide our Taijutsu masteries. Why do you __think__ I'm wearing different clothing today? I don't want to flash people when I take the Taijutsu exam! I also want to pass as Top Kunoichi, just to beat Sakura at it since she held it over me for quite some time._

_Uhh…as for something to do…well, if it makes things easier you could create a permanent mental link with me, using a Yamanaka Hijutsu. It's silent and only requires us cutting open our wrists for a little while, which will heal over with demonic healing as soon as we do it, leaving a marking for each of us on the other's wrist. The marking creates a permanent mental link, though, so if you want to go about it the Namikaze way for now and wait on the link until we're in the Time House that sounds a little better._

_-Kin Shishi'_

Naruto looked sidelong at Ino curiously. He quirked an eyebrow at some of the things she'd written, and then very hesitantly reached out a tendril of his mental energy, touching it to hers. Ino blinked and for a moment she was about to spin out of her chair, ready to attack; she certainly looked like it, with narrowed eyes and her back completely straight but ready to make a spin out of her chair. At least, to Naruto she did.

"_Ino-chan, calm down, this is just mind-linking until we can decide on the Yamanaka Hijutsu,"_ Naruto reassured her, and the Yamanaka blinked for a few minutes, looking at him as if he'd said something. Then she shook herself, and made a falsified expression that told the people watching she'd imagined it, and she went back to looking over her test paper.

"_Geez, scare me why don't you?"_ replied Ino, shooting him a mental foxy grin _"Don't worry Naruto, I won't do anything stupid. I'm rather impressed with my self-control, I have to say; you know it took me about two seconds to get control of my reaction before I leapt out of my chair?"_

Naruto's eyes widened a little; most ANBU did not have that amount of control over themselves. Smiling slightly, he praised her _"That's __very__ good, Ino-chan. So, uh, how about we play a game? We could also meditate, but I don't want to deal with Kyuu-baka right now, so I'd rather not."_

"_Sure, what do you want to play?"_ Ino was more than open for a game; she was bored too, and bored ANBU were never good. A bored Bakemono no Shi was even worse.

"_Twenty questions?" _it came out as a question, and he added _"or we could play mental shougi, if you like. You pick."_

"_20 questions; considering how well you play, I won't win at a strategy game and the other ones we need to be in a shared mindscape to play at this point, but if you want to fall asleep you're welcome to…"_

"_Nah, it'll bring us to the baka and I really don't want to talk to him, at least not now,"_ replied Naruto with a mental foxy grin _"you first, bring it on,"_ he added.

It took them four rounds of twenty questions (that both of them won as the questioner, of course) to reach the end of the exam period. Iruka called "Alright, time's up! Someone wake up Shikamaru!"

Naruto, having folded the spare sheet of paper he'd been using to pass back and forth to Ino and himself into a paper airplane, waved to Iruka-sensei "I'll do it, 'ttebayo!" Iruka smiled and nodded to him.

Instead of a hopeful Genin, a skilled Hokage took aim with the paper plane, infusing it with just enough chakra to make the seal that would wake him up emerge. The wind current was in his favor, but when was it not? He threw the paper airplane carefully and it landed directly on Shikamaru's shoulder, because his desk would have caused his test paper to explode.

Naruto snapped his fingers under the desk with a smile on his face, and the paper airplane exploded with enough sound that it made Shikamaru shoot his head up and look around. Then a booming voice filled the room.

"**Sleeping on the job? Shika, you know better!"** it was a perfect impersonation of Ino, and the smirking Yamanaka had given the idea to Naruto. She had even added a drop of her own saliva to the seal to make it work properly. Shikamaru stared at the explosion's vicinity. She murmured something, and the second part activated **"Come on now, don't you recognize me?"**

The entire class was staring at the pair of smirking blonds sitting three rows up and one across from Shikamaru, who turned to Ino and sighed, rolling his eyes at their antics. Ino met his eyes, and then she mouthed the next part of the message right as it emerged from the air.

"**NO SLEPEING ON THE JOB NARA, IT COULD GET YOU KILLED!"** Ino made the seal shout, remembering Shikamaru's death as she did so. Naruto was also painfully reminded of Shikamaru's death, and vowed to change it; the then-Jounin had died protecting his unborn child, and his wife Temari and their daughter Kazehana had died six months later.

This was delivered in her older voice, an undertone of pain and sorrow getting through to the Nara while it didn't for the others of the class. Naruto formed a hand-seal and whispered "**Kai**," beneath the desk, noticing that Shikamaru was looking at him, so he leaned back in his chair and made a show of looking confident, putting his hands behind his head and his feet on the desk next to his test paper. Iruka opened his mouth to speak, and nothing happened, no booming voice or anything like that.

Sasuke was looking around the class. His eyes landed on the smirking Ino Yamanaka, and Naruto could see the Uchiha trying to figure out how it had worked. How on _earth_ she had managed to get her voice to boom out of midair like that.

_Sorry Shika, but it was her idea, and I needed a going-away prank;_ Naruto genuinely felt sorry for Shikamaru as he'd been on the other end of her anger before, mainly when he'd taken the Chidori to the chest for her, but he'd had a good reason for it. He wasn't going to die so easily, _not_ when he had a village to live for, and he wasn't going to let his partner die if he could help it.

"Thank you, Naruto," said Iruka, looking stunned "Can I have a word with both of you after the final exam this afternoon? It's not detention," he added, seeing Sakura get up to shout at Ino "Sakura, sit down."

"Hai, Iruka-sensei," she sat back down and Iruka sighed, rolling his eyes as he saw her suppress the instinct to shout at her blond-haired rival.

"Now, since the test is over, I want you to deliver your test to either mine or Mizuki's desk before you head outside to the training area, where you will be having your practical exams in Taijutsu, weapons mastery, chakra control and the obstacle course," said Iruka, and the entire class rose.

Except for the blond pair of ANBU (Ino had been an ANBU captain in their old life as Kin Shishi anyway) and they waited patiently until the rest of the students had filed outside to where Mizuki-sensei was waiting before with a look at one another, the pair rose and Ino went first to Iruka's desk.

"Ino, Naruto, why did you two wait?" asked Iruka curiously as Ino handed him her test paper "and how long did it take for you to finish the exam?"

"Oh, we waited because Naruto has a note to give you," Ino said, gesturing to the other blond, and she leaned in close and whispered "I'm not really obsessed with Sasuke and Naruto's actually my friend, but no one else knows that and the masks are going to stay on for the rest of the day. When the exams are over, it might be a little while before we can stay after but we can get an excuse from the Sandaime if my parents get too worried," Iruka looked shocked and turned to stare at Naruto, who nodded.

"Iruka-sensei, this note is for your eyes only and it's about my test," Naruto murmured, just as quietly as Ino had, the platinum blond pulling back and waiting for her friend near the door. He made a shooing motion at her, and she rolled her eyes before heading outside "Ino-chan isn't the girl I'm interested in, at least not that I know of, but we've worked together so much it's going to become commonplace to see us talking to and working with each other. The note explains the answer to question 100; I do remember that night, after all," he blinked back tears, a painful lump in his throat as he thought of his parents "and I know exactly what happened, not the BS they're having you teach us. I trust you, Iruka-sensei," he finished, having sensed nothing was wrong with the Chuunin (aside from his water dragon heritage, which couldn't be counted). "Now, I've got a test to do, and you're one of the judges. _Don't_ give my test to Mizuki-teme, or Ino-chan's, or he will find himself in the women's bathhouse naked and tied up with a sign that says 'super pervert'," Naruto added, waving "See you for the next exam, Iruka-sensei!"

He walked out the door calmly before making sure no one had seen him (aside from Iruka) and approached the waiting people in his mask. This test would probably be more beneficial to Ino-chan, of all people, than him.

-)-

Ino saw her partner slip the mask on before he started approaching, and missed the last insult Sakura threw at her. Running through her memories quickly, she retorted "Oh yeah? I bet you couldn't get a date with the broad side of a barn!"

"Naruto-baka, come over here!" shouted Sakura. Ino had a smirk on her face as she knew her partner and leader would do something to shock them all during this point in time.

"Ne, Sakura-chan, who's this, 'ttebayo?" he did a remarkable job of an impression, she had to hand it to him, but when no one was looking he winked at her, and his voice said in her mind, familiar and reassuring _"I'm not going on a date with her no matter what she says. I'll drop my mask __today__ if I have to!"_

"This is Ino Yamanaka, or Ino-pig," replied Sakura, sticking her tongue out at Ino "I could get a date with Naruto-baka if I wanted! Baka, which of us is prettier?"

"Huh? Ino-chan is," Naruto said, and Sakura punched him. Hard. _"Ooh, that had to hurt, need a hand there Naruto?"_ she offered, but he minutely shook his head as he picked himself up "What was that for?" he demanded "Just because Ino-chan looks nicer today, you don't have to hit me!"

"Baka, you're not supposed to favor her!" shouted Sakura "You are my puppy!"

A wry chuckle that wasn't hers sounded in her mind, and the left eye on both of their faces switched for a moment. Ino grinned widely "I think you've lost this one, forehead!"

"Fine! Baka, you two can have each other, for all I care! Date the _dead-last_!" shouted Sakura, running to Sasuke. For once, Ino didn't follow her, and instead, she winked at Naruto, who was scowling at the pinkette's retreating backside.

"_She had no right to say that,"_ Naruto commented, when she raised an eyebrow just barely _"As soon as I get out of this mask, which I __dislike with a passion__, since apparently I __can't__ hate anyone, and yes, I __have__ tried,"_ he added at her barely audible snicker, _"I'm going to-ugh, why can't she just wake up?"_

"_I don't know. Sasuke should be capable of that, though. Hinata will take a bit more to wake up,"_ she indicated the Hyuuga with the barest nod of her head, who had her Byakugan activated, watching them from afar. Naruto gave her a very slight nod and the two of them turned toward Iruka as he walked out, masks back in place as they grinned at the Chuunin.

Iruka swallowed back whatever fear he had, and walked to the front of the class. He said "QUIET!" just to make sure they were listening "Now, this is the weapons mastery test. You must have a score of over five out of ten per weapon to pass. Are we clear?" he asked, looking at every face in the class "_Over five out of ten_. If you manage to hit a hidden target, then you get extra credit. I'm not about to tell you where the hidden targets are, though, because that would defeat the purpose of the test. First up, Shino Aburame!"

Ino paid attention to this one, and Shino, obviously holding himself back, made a score of 8/10, which was good, on every single one of his shots and he didn't even attempt to find a hidden target. Chouji did much the same, except he hit one of the hidden targets on his shuriken test, so he got extra credit.

She only paid attention to the future Rookie Nine. And that, of course, included Naruto, but she was confident in his abilities to hold back. If he made a mistake; well, she didn't enjoy the idea of proving herself _before_ visiting the Time House, but Naruto trusted Iruka, so she would have to do it with one person. Which, come to think of it, wasn't so bad.

The next one of the Rookie Nine that walked up was Hinata. Hinata did her best, and managed a nine and ten out of ten on hers, not to mention that she hit three hidden targets. She would be difficult to beat, but Ino wasn't about to let the chance to beat out Sakura pass her by. Somehow, she'd missed Sakura's test, but from the smirk on the pinkette's face, she'd hit every hidden target and gotten a 10/10.

"_Hey, Uzumaki-taichou,"_ Naruto glanced at her, quirking an eyebrow a little in question, _"So, how much do I have to get to beat Sakura?"_

"_A perfect, hit all the hidden targets __and__ get a perfect on every test. This is child's play for us, Ino-chan, so if you want to stay near the middle"_ he began, but she shook her head a little _"Why not?"_

"_I know it's childish but if I don't beat Sakura out for Top Kunoichi she'll have it over me my whole life. However…that's actually not so bad if it gives her a little confidence,"_ she stopped short _"I'm going to __match__ her, not beat her."_

"_I'm glad you realized it, Ino-chan,"_ Naruto said with a warm smile directed her way. It made her heart flutter in her chest and suddenly she felt like she could bring the Kyuubi to its knees _"Sakura needs that little boost to her confidence. You don't. You're my beautiful, strong I-teammate,"_ Ino blinked; _did he really almost call me 'his Ino'? I wouldn't mind hearing it…_ _"and I know you can do it."_

"_Thanks, Naruto,"_ replied Ino, with a large smile on her face. Shikamaru got average scores, but he hit more hidden targets than Shino, because he was hiding his skill _"I've gotta kick his ass into gear."_

"_We've got to work with them and train them, __hard__ until they can't __move__ if need be,"_ Naruto agreed, _"I won't let them die a second time."_ Ino nodded to him, this time openly, to show that she didn't only agree, but she believed in him and that she would be there the whole time. The nod was more than enough to attract attention from Sasuke, who was staring at the pair of them.

"What, checking me out?" teased Ino, and Sasuke shook his head, scowling "Then leave me alone," Ino added in an undertone that _only_ the Uzumaki-Namikaze next to her could hear.

"_Calm,"_ his voice murmured in her mind as Kiba stepped up _"They've randomized this order for the boys this year, that or he was in the bathroom, which is more likely."_

"_I agree,"_ replied Ino, smiling at her teammate as they watched Kiba get a score slightly above Shino's but below Shikamaru's _"He'll be better soon, Naruto, I promise."_

"_He'd better be,"_ snarled Naruto silently, _"if he falls to Kabuto early on, I'm going to __destroy__ Otogakure. DES-TROY."_

Kiba had been one of Naruto's best friends, someone he could rely on and trust to take care of Hinata, who had become like his sister. Kiba and Naruto had had such a good relationship that their teasing extended to everything but mortal combat, and when Kiba had lain dying, he made Naruto promise to 'take out the bastards that did this to his wife and child', before dying himself.

Naruto had made good on his promise to Kiba. It had taken many deaths and years, but Naruto had destroyed Akatsuki and Otogakure, including the monster, known as the Lord of Destruction (codenamed Chronos to the shinobi forces), that had been unleashed upon their world, thanks to Iruka's noble sacrifice. Now that he had the ability to manifest his full strength (which he was going to test, she was certain, in the Time House), Iruka would no longer have to die. And it would prevent so many other losses if he and Ino could regain their old strength.

"Sasuke Uchiha!" Sasuke stepped up with a smirk gracing his face and got a near-perfect. Naruto smirked at her _"Want me to match him?"_

"_Yes,"_ she said, _"his ego needs a blow."_ She watched as Naruto was called up, and the blonde's face suddenly went blank, devoid of emotion, just as his father's had done on the battlefield.

"Naruto?" asked Iruka "Uhh, Naruto are you" there was a blur of orange, and then Naruto turned to Iruka with a winning smile. The kunai were thrown, having hit all of the same places Sasuke did, and Iruka walked over to check them, before his jaw dropped. Ino, with her increased eyesight, could see that the kunai were lodged so deeply in the target it would take someone of Jounin strength or higher to pull them out.

"Need some help, Iruka-sensei?" he asked, and Iruka nodded after tugging on the kunai for quite some time. Naruto didn't show off this time; he entered the firing range, and Ino barely had time to warn him of the kunai headed his way. Naruto pulled one of the kunai out of the target, and she watched with knowing in her eyes and a smile on her face as Naruto deflected the kunai thrown at his back.

Iruka glared at the students "Whoever threw that is going to receive a great deal of punishment for breaking the rules. Naruto, are you finished?" Naruto nodded, and Ino gave a silent cry of _YES! TAKE THAT MIZUKI-TEME!_ There were a few people she could dislike, because of the things they had done to Naruto, and Naruto would agree with her. "Alright, let's go, and if someone else throws a kunai at Naruto today, then you can rest assured that person will have their weapons score fail as well as whichever test we're in. Continue, Naruto."

Naruto finished with a perfect on his shuriken exam, and Sakura shrieked "IRUKA-SENSEI! NARUTO-BAKA CHEATED! HE COPIED SASUKE-KUN!"

Ino was hard-pressed to suppress the urge to shout at Sakura, but her eyes met Naruto's and she could see the cold flame burning deep within his own eyes. His Will of Fire had been kindled now, and there was no going back.

"_Be careful not to reveal our positions in this time,"_ she warned, and Naruto nodded to her. The whole of the student body turned to stare at her. She smiled "So, is it my turn yet?" making sure to sound a little confused and nervous.

"_Good job Ino-chan, on distracting them,"_ he replied, stepping down from the kunai and shuriken area. Today, nothing could hurt either of them that they couldn't handle…or at least, that's what it felt like to Ino. She walked forward, and Iruka murmured "Whatever you did, thank you. I saw his eyes."

"You're welcome, and all I did was attract a little attention so he didn't have to respond," Ino replied with a smile, just as softly "Now can I go?" she gestured to the targets.

Ino's score was just as good as Naruto's, Sasuke's and Sakura's. Retrieving her own kunai and shuriken, the two blonds' eyes met, and Naruto nodded very slightly to her as Iruka herded the class over to the obstacle course.

"Alright class, this is the obstacle course," Iruka said "This is a test of stealth. If you can get through the obstacle course without setting off more than five of the bells hidden all over, then you pass. If you get a perfect, then you didn't set off any bells. We'll begin with Shino Aburame," Shino walked up "Your time will also reflect on your abilities as a shinobi. We've been practicing this for the past few years, so I'm expecting you to only need a few tries to get through it if any."

Ino watched the Rookie Nine take their exams, their scores standing out.

Shino's time: 10:30, 1 bell went off.

Chouji's: 10:25, 1 bell went off.

Sakura's: 13:00. No bells.

Hinata's: 11:00, no bells.

Kiba's: 12:30, no bells.

Shikamaru's: 11:00, no bells

When Sasuke stepped up, the two blond watchers in the audience watched him as he began. Sasuke had aced this test last time, but if he didn't, then they'd have something to say about it.

His time was 9:20. No bells.

"_I never thought Sakura would accuse you of cheating…guess she really does need a wakeup call, doesn't she?"_ Ino asked her commander and partner _"I remember his time was under 10:00 last time. Try to match it. I know I'm going through this, and I've got an idea…how about you go last?"_

"_Sounds good, I'd like to remove the bells for extra credit, but I'm not sure how well that would go over by Iruka-sensei. Then again, he might say it was just fine, since they have to take them out again after the test is over, and this is just our class taking the graduation test,"_ Naruto replied, a curious look in his eyes _"Hmm…I'll ask now."_

Ino watched as Naruto walked over to Iruka and asked a question, making sure to 'smile' as soon as he was finished asking. Iruka looked confused, but nodded.

"Alright, thanks to a request from another student, Ino Yamanaka is up next, as she is the last person in line," Ino walked up to the starting area, and looked at Iruka for confirmation "Ready…Set…begin!" Ino was immediately off, climbing the ropes that would get her started, and she ended up on a platform. Landing lightly as a cat, with no noise, she looked at the two ways available to her and immediately picked the harder path.

Doing a long jump to cross a pit, she landed lightly on a rope, and ran across it, dodging the kunai and shuriken thrown at her the whole time. It was so very similar to a real battle, but this track would require more chakra control than most Genin hopefuls had, or a ton of skill. Both of those things Ino had in spades thanks to her future training, so she continued on her way, doing an easy flip forward to dodge a platform that, if landed on, would set off a bell. She grasped the first rope, and swung it back and forth only once, counting on her ANBU-level agility to carry her through the ropes part of the obstacle course. Upon exiting this she had to perform a test of balance and land on certain posts, without setting off bells, and then make their way across a trapped floor.

She made it through the posts completely intact, her ponytail whipping around as she dodged the last kunai, and landed in a perfect crouch. Aware of everyone's eyes on her as she approached the exit, she closed her eyes, and measured the distance in her mind. The ANBU in her wanted to leap the whole floor. But a Genin hopeful couldn't do that, especially not if she didn't want to attract too much attention, so instead, she used her chakra control and decided to leap from wall to wall, instead of taking the easy path out which was to hang on a zip line and dodge everything thrown at you.

Barely sweating, she landed at the end of the obstacle course completely intact. The whole class was staring at her as she smiled and turned to Iruka "Iruka-sensei, what was my time?"

"Uh, your time was 9:30, and it was _really_ well done," said Iruka, "have you been holding back this whole time?" Ino blinked, and asked Naruto _"I really did rock their minds, didn't I?"_

"_Yes, you did, Ino-chan. You did."_ Naruto said, and he sounded proud _"I'm glad you held back on that leap, because I could see your ANBU reflexes starting to take over. How do you think we have coordination in these bodies?"_

"_Uh, because we're hanyou,"_ she said, sounding confused, _"Why?" _Naruto nodded, but it was so slight only she noticed it _"Oh, I get it; we can't really show that part off until after your 'unorthodox' graduation."_

"_Exactly. So you'll want to hold to about your level of strength that you've displayed here. OK?"_ he asked her _"for me, Ino-chan. By the way, you looked beautiful coming out of that combo jump, and adding the flip makes you less susceptible to attack. Good job."_

"_Thanks, Naruto,"_ she blushed a little as she nodded in response "yeah, I've been training hard, and I don't think being a fan girl for the last day of my life as an Academy student will really help me, so I decided to cut loose. And I'm not sorry I did, that was fun!" She gave him a thumbs-up and walked over to Naruto, nudging him "Uzumaki, your turn."

"_Don't you mean Namikaze?"_ he teased as he walked up to Iruka. Iruka nodded to him, and Ino watched him go off, taking the same path she herself had and then coming _back_ through the course, picking up all the bells on his way. Finally, almost ten minutes later he emerged, smiling.

"_That was way too easy," _Naruto commented as he handed the bells to Iruka, who was shocked, and visibly so "I figured I'd make things easier, Iruka-sensei, and besides, that was fun, 'ttebayo!" he said with a goofy 'smile' on his face.

"_I agree, I can't wait until we finish this and we can take off our masks. I'm tired of acting,"_ Ino replied, as Iruka accepted the bells with a smile.

"Good job, all of you. The top scores will be posted tomorrow, if you drop by, but if you don't," he looked at Naruto and Ino most of all, "then I'll understand. Now, why don't you all follow me to the Taijutsu area? Your Ninjutsu and Genjutsu exams will be after lunch."

"_Oh crap, you didn't pack a lunch, did you?"_ asked Ino, and Naruto just smiled at her _"You did or you didn't, Naruto?"_

"_I did pack a lunch; I got the Hokage to give me a cup of instant ramen to hold me over until we can get something more filling,"_ replied Naruto, and Ino stopped worrying. Naruto functioned just fine off of instant ramen; it was a side effect of youki that he could turn almost anything into a food item. She could too, but she didn't want to have to. Today she'd packed a balanced lunch, and she'd share with him if he needed it.

Ino didn't really pay attention to the fights until her name was called "Ino Yamanaka against Naruto Uzumaki!" the two blonds moved forward, and Mizuki had an evil grin on his face as he said "Taijutsu only, hajime!" and leapt back.

The two blonds began by staring at each other. Neither was panicking, but at the same time they knew they had to show off at least a little more skill in Taijutsu than they'd had at this point last time around. Naruto commanded _"Attack me! Pretend it's a spar, and I'll just block what I can."_

"_But-but-what about you? They'll know something's up!"_ exclaimed Ino _"Though…"_

"_I'll fail the Genjutsu part of the exam this time, but I really want to try my hand against your Taijutsu style again. We'll __really__ spar when we're in the Time House, but for now I just want to see a real spar. Everyone's wondering why we're not fighting. I'll use my own style, just not any of the power. It'll be a draw, and it'll work."_

"_OK,"_ Ino nodded to him and slid into a stance none of the instructors had seen before "You'd better not hold back on me next time, Uzumaki," she warned "Or I'll kick your ass."

"Wouldn't dream of it, Yamanaka," he mimicked her warning tone "So long as you watch your blows," he slid into his own stance, and the two blonds smirked at each other. Naruto's Genjutsu flickered for a moment, revealing the more ready teen standing there, but Ino's didn't and for that, she was proud.

"Alright, but I challenge you for later," she said, right before the two of them started running at each other, a smile on both of their faces. Her punch was caught by Naruto, but he made sure to fake a wince.

Ino started when she realized that her partner had just attempted to roundhouse kick her in the chest, and dodged it fluidly, just as easily as she would have if she was fighting him regularly. Blows flew between the two blonds easily, but both held back a tremendous amount of their skill, because it would cause problems if people were to think they were too talented.

Finally, Iruka called "Alright, you two can stop!" it had been nearly twenty minutes, and Ino had been tossed onto her back, but she had a grip on Naruto's ankle. She looked up at Naruto, who just barely nodded to her, and she released his ankle, accepting the hand he offered her with a smile.

"Naruto, Ino, I would like to speak with you before you head to lunch," Mizuki said, and Ino and Naruto nodded "The rest of you, go get lunch!" he called. The students dispersed, leaving Iruka, Mizuki, Naruto and Ino standing before them and feeling like they got into trouble.

"_Don't worry. Mizuki-teme can't do anything to us,"_ Naruto told her, _"unless he wants to risk our real power coming through as hanyous __now__ and not later. I think they're curious, more than anything else, but Mizuki-teme smells of lies and deceit, so be careful."_

"_He might offer me the scroll stealing,"_ Ino realized, as they watched their instructors carefully _"They're both suspicious, though, most likely because you incorporated your father's style into that fight and I was using that weird style that requires equal use of your upper and lower body, like yours."_

"_Remember, all we have to do is wait, and the traitor will reveal himself,"_ Naruto reminded her as they stood facing their teachers, Naruto looking from Iruka to Mizuki with some suspicion in his eyes.

AND CUT! Next chapter: Suspicion and a Traitor Revealed

Please review! I know, I'm sorry for the cliffhanger, but this chapter was starting to drag out, and that was most of graduation right there. The rest of it will come during the next chapter, I promise. Naruto and Ino are so different than their past selves because of the future they had, and the time they shared with each other.

Chuunin-Medium level shinobi

Genin-low-ranked shinobi

ANBU-elite shinobi, cream of the crop, etc.

Kitsune-Fox (can also mean fox spirit; I can't write Yoko correctly and if you spell it as Yoko, without the accent meaning demon fox, it can be taken as something else, so I just write Kitsune)

Kin Shishi-Golden Lion (Kin means gold, Shishi means lion; it's Ino's codename in ANBU)

Ino's dad is a mind-reader, and it's hard to lie to them. Only certain people can pull it off, Ino included. The names of the Taijutsu styles will be included next chapter. I promise, the confrontation will work itself out.


	4. Chapter 4

Oh my KAMI-SAMA how the HECK did I not post this one? I got so caught up in schoolwork and other stuff that I completely forgot about posting this the day I meant to!

I'm sorry for that. Rant over. Anyway, this is already edited, I just got sidetracked into reading a bunch of Harry Potter fanfiction during the time I _meant_ to be posting this one. I'm sorry; please understand that I have a _lot_ of work to do considering this year I am taking only 2 classes that allow you _any_ breathing space and 4 that don't allow any at all. I'm surprised I calmed down enough to write this note.

I've also been sick for the past week and my muse seems to like diving out of the picture when I'm under a ton of stress. I am a perfectionist (and not proud of it; it's not easy dealing with _your own_ expectations of yourself, especially when they're ridiculous) and so I edit like crazy and would torture the living daylights out of my fanfictions if I kept at it for so long. I honestly thought I'd posted this one.

I do not own Naruto. I have settled on the pairing of Naru/Ino.

Apologies for chapter length. I couldn't fit everything in that I wanted otherwise and I had to edit this chapter like crazy until it was how I wanted it to be. I also couldn't find a decent spot to break the chapter. It might happen again (actually it probably will, since my writing projects constantly end up getting into longer and longer chapters as I write) so just be on the lookout for it.

There is an extensive dictionary/explanation section (rare and likely as not, never going to be seen again) at the bottom of this chapter, hence why it's so long. If you already know these things, scroll past them; they're for people who want clarification or don't know the terms. If you have a question, PM me or review but PMs are likely to be replied to faster. I can't individually reply to reviews since that's not allowed.

**Chapter Four: Suspicion and a Traitor Revealed**

Ino looked back and forth between the teachers and her friend and partner, not to mention former Hokage. Naruto looked at ease, and she felt at ease as well, as she looked at Mizuki and Iruka. Mizuki hadn't hurt anyone yet, and Iruka was someone they could trust.

Naruto looked at his partner and smiled. This would be much easier with her support, so he said "Well, is the game up?" _"Let's answer as many questions as we can, 'k?"_ he asked, and she gave him a mental nod. "What is it you needed, Iruka-sensei, Mizuki-sensei?" he asked, curiosity showing on his face. It was easier to show real emotions than to falsify them, but he was a master at both.

"I wanted to ask about your Taijutsu style," now that he was looking for it, the disgust in Mizuki's eyes as he looked at Naruto was easy, despite how he was smiling at the soon-to-be Kyuubi "I didn't teach it to you; who taught you that?"

"I worked it out myself, 'ttebayo!" Naruto exclaimed, and Iruka raised an eyebrow just slightly. Naruto, knowing Mizuki wouldn't understand the hand-signs he used but at the same time, knowing Iruka would, hand-signed to him [Explain later, play along,] getting a shocked look from the Chuunin, who was secretly an ANBU by the name of Isamu at this point; a very skilled hunter-nin, known for how well he did his work and how there were no signs left of the body when he finished.

"And you, Ino," Iruka played along easily, winking at Ino and Naruto to let them know he was playing along, and Naruto smiled, letting the warmth reach his eyes "Where _did_ you learn to fight like that? You did very well, and you and Naruto held a spar for almost twenty minutes!"

"I've been practicing, Iruka-sensei, and I'm trying to create my own Taijutsu style, and as for Naruto, well," she shrugged "he's a good sparring partner. We started sparring with each other a few months ago and I pointed out all the mistakes in his Taijutsu style, so in return for getting a good sparring partner, I helped him out."

Naruto smiled, but it was just the twitching of the corners of his mouth that let Ino know that he was smiling on the inside, and she had her own twitching lips _"I'm starting to __enjoy__ leading them in circles, Naruto."_

"_Now you see why I did it so much as a kid,"_ Naruto replied, allowing the smile to brighten his face "Was that all? I'm hungry, 'ttebayo, and so is Ino-chan!" he made sure to make it sound like his usual 'whine', causing both of the instructors to let them go with nods.

"Wow, I can't believe that worked," Ino said softly as the two blonds walked away, a smile on her face "Let's go get our food, unless you brought it out?" Naruto shook his head, and the two of them headed into the classroom, seeing their former and future friends sitting on tables outside.

Naruto went to Ino's, not his own, backpack, and murmured "I put my lunch in your bag so they wouldn't steal it," pulling out a pork-flavored instant ramen. Ino pulled out her own lunch, rolled her eyes, and smiled at him _"I promise we can let the masks fall __as soon as __we're done today. I'm really starting to get…well, bored!"_

"_Me too, especially since I want to see you commanding people like you used to,"_ Ino said as they walked outside, and Naruto looked for a seat at his usual, empty table, which was full today. Shrugging his shoulders, he turned to Ino "Can I use some of your water, Ino-chan?" he pointed to the instant ramen, and Ino nodded, handing him her (rather large) water bottle.

He only used just enough water to cover the noodles, and then he placed his hands on the bottom of the ramen pack after pouring in the seasoning. A few minutes later, the ramen was cooked, as Ino pulled out her own lunch of stir-fried pork on rice with a side of strawberry mochi.

"_Kami-sama,"_ Ino's whisper touched his mind, and he looked over at her, only to see tears in her eyes as she stared at the mochi _"Sakura…sister…"_ she whispered, but in her mind. Naruto could feel the pain and sorrow emanating off of her, and she looked at him with over-bright eyes "She loved mochi, and she was going to name her child Ichigo…"

"Kami-sama," was all Naruto could say, a painful lump in his throat bringing tears to his own eyes. He pulled out a tri-pronged kunai from beneath his illusion, and brought it up, putting his instant ramen on the ground and forgetting it for the moment "I think you need this, don't you?" he asked, nodding to the kunai and his scarred hand, which was, for the moment, freed of the Genjutsu he wore.

"_You mean…a permanent link? Naruto, I'll feel whatever you do…are you sure? I mean, you can block the link, but,"_ Naruto slashed the kunai across his palm, and handed it, hilt-first to his best friend. Ino swallowed, and slit her own palm with the extremely sharp blade, pressing it to Naruto's. _"Channel chakra from your innermost core into the link."_

Naruto did exactly that and a brilliant golden chain bound their wrists together, the ends of the links in their palms. Naruto felt another person's emotions start rushing through him as he touched her hand once more, the golden chain fading away as they looked at each other meaningfully. Ino's emotions, pain, happiness, loss, and sorrow with some joy and absolute belief in him streamed through the link. Looking at her, and how she really looked, her hair gaining its customary platinum sheen to it as the sunlight struck it. And it struck him that she was beautiful, so he thought _Kirei…_

"Thanks, Naruto," she whispered, picking her lunch back up and splitting apart the chopsticks she'd brought "Itadakimasu!" she chorused with Naruto, as the two of them dug into their lunch.

"_You need to eat better next time,"_ Ino chided as he finished his lunch, and he shrugged _"I know it's what you had, but next time, do you really want to be unable to use your jutsu correctly because you're hungry?"_

"_Yes, I know, feel my chakra reserves, though,"_ Naruto said, letting his chakra dam open. It was only there because he wasn't gathering or molding as much chakra as he really had, but now, a brilliant blue aura enveloped his body for a moment _"Come on, we've got Ninjutsu after lunch, and we can't be late."_ He rose "Want me to get your trash?"

"That would be nice," Ino said, as he picked up the disposable parts of what she'd eaten from and took them to the trash can, completely aware of the class's eyes on him and Ino as the two of them walked back into the classroom and sat next to each other.

Sakura walked over while sneering at them "I see the pig has finally found someone she can be around that's of her class! Worthy of nothing but dirt!"

Naruto and Ino shared a single glance. In this, their thoughts were the same; _"How the __hell__ does she turn into such a nice person?"_

"Well, look at it this way," Ino said with a smile "You have less competition for Sasuke. Now, I think he's hidden himself up by the window, but if you're careful you can get" she stopped, and asked Naruto _"Can you handle him? You know him better than I do."_

"_Sure,"_ "Sasuke-teme, what're you doing here?" Naruto asked, staring at the Uchiha's gray eyes with his own blue ones.

"Tell me where you got such power, dobe," he commanded. Naruto only smiled, and shook his head "I demand that you teach me how you do that, dobe!"

"And I refuse to teach you," Naruto replied "It's a family secret," he looked at Iruka, who was about to shout, and added "I'd get to seats if I were you, because Iruka-sensei is about to shout at the class."

"ALRIGHT, SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN BRATS!" yelled Iruka, using the Big Head no Jutsu, and everyone quickly sat in the nearest seat. Sasuke sat on the end next to Ino and Sakura sat across the aisle, both of them sending envious (in Sasuke's case) and cold glares at the blond pair as they looked at Iruka.

Mizuki stepped forward and said "Now that lunch is over, we'll have our Ninjutsu and Genjutsu tests, Genjutsu first. I will be calling you in order to come to the back room to take your exams, both at once, and you will receive a hitai-ate if you perform well and pass each of the tests." With that, Mizuki stood by the door as Iruka nodded to him, handed him the roster, and walked into the testing room to sit down.

Naruto remembered that there had been a table filled with hitai-ates, and that he had walked in when there was only one left on the table aside from the ones the instructors were wearing. Ino glanced at him _"Are you going to fail this part?"_

"_Yeah, I have to remain the dobe, even though I admit I had fun showing a bit more of my skill today,"_ Naruto replied _"I want you to have your old hitai-ate, and I'll imbue it with seals. I've __still got__ my old one, and I dearly hope you also have your ANBU mask or this is going to get difficult."_

Ino smirked _"Oh, I still have the mask of the Kin Shishi, or Konoha no Tenshi Shouten, in my scrolls, which are in the seal on my skin as you taught me. Don't worry too much in that respect; my sword, the Shippuden no Akuma you made me, is in my pocket in a storage seal, and the pocket is tied shut so only I can reach it."_

"_Good, I was wondering how you'd handled waking up with your weapons on you. I woke up without that, but in return, I had to explain my physical changes to my ANBU guard, who happened to be Kakashi, and why I was strangling the chakra-constructed fox head Kyuubi had woken me up with," _he grumbled mentally _"I didn't like that one bit; we weren't under attack, so there was no reason for it…damn kitsune…"_

He heard his partner stifle a chuckle and turned his attention to the exam room, but his mirth reached her through the bond they were sharing now, so she obviously heard his inward laughter at his own plight.

"_I can't believe we're really here,"_ she said, after a pause, and Naruto looked directly at her, a little concerned _"I mean, I never thought we'd get a chance like this. Just thinking of how your jutsu managed it…"_

"_I know, it's incredible,"_ Naruto agreed _"that we could send two beings of our power and skill this far back in time…if we fail again, I'll use it again, and go back to even earlier until we're sending ourselves to when our parents were kids. If I have to, we'll go back to the start of Konohagakure and fix the problems between the Uchiha and Senju clans by acting as eternal peacemakers. I _am not_ going to let everything go wrong all over again."_

"_I know, and I agree with you. We'd be like gods if we ended up going back so many times, considering the amount of experience and power we'd have. I'd rather not, though,"_ Ino said _"the time travel technique is a last resort. And don't you have a seal that disrupts the Edo Tensei?"_

"_Yes, though-oh!"_ Naruto snapped his fingers, ignoring the tiny electric blue spark that appeared, and pulled out a notebook _"Thanks! I need to work on that, since it's a prototype, in case Oro-teme summons Tou-san and Kaa-san in the future!"_

Naruto pulled out a sealing book, but made it look like a basic sealing book with a Genjutsu before he began working on his True Resurrection Seal. He had also created a seal that would permanently seal off the Mangekyou, and one that would heal the eyes of someone with the Mangekyou, completing it. Both required youki and divine energy, of which he and Ino both had enough (him from the purification and absorption of most of Kyuubi, and Ino from the accidental purification and absorption of the Yonbi), to cast the seal. The True Resurrection Seal was supposed to (when it was completed) take the Edo Tensei summons and allow the person in question to return to life. A true resurrection, in which the remains of the person's original body disappeared and the new body/sacrifice body is spit out, allowing them to truly return to life, was its ultimate goal, but it would probably take him at least until the Chuunin Exams if not longer to finish the seal. If he gave it to Hiruzen-ji, then he would probably be capable of defeating Oro-teme.

Of course, he didn't want things to get that far. That's why he was working on a seal, and next to him he heard Ino's breathing even out, becoming controlled and calm, as she meditated. He smiled to himself; _I think she would get along __great__ with Kaa-san, according to what I've heard…_

Naruto only 'woke up' when Mizuki called his name, and gently, he shook Ino's shoulder, giving the Yamanaka time to return to herself as he walked up to the door, cleaning up his sealing supplies first, of course.

"Doodling _again_?" Mizuki asked, and Naruto just shrugged "Does it calm you or something?" he shrugged again; he didn't want to give away anything about his sealing work, especially not to Mizuki. The teme would just take it to Oro-teme, and then he'd have to deal with the snake bastard trying to get around the True Resurrection Seal. "Well, get in there then," Naruto felt Mizuki trying to disrupt his chakra, and quickly cast a mental chakra barrier around his tenketsu. Feeling the man's anger behind him, he smiled as he said "Ok Iruka-sensei, I'm ready!"

He proved to be incapable of dispelling past D-ranked Genjutsu, and then he purposely gave Iruka a foxy grin, and asked _"Ino-chan, I know you're not exactly happy about my use of it last time, but I need the overall event lineup to stay the same. May I use the True Henge to turn into a girl with __clothing on__?"_

He heard her sigh, and she then said _"Yes, and I expect that you cover their modesty. Other than that, and using my own image in the jutsu, which is forbidden…knock 'em dead, Namikaze."_

"_I will,"_ Naruto grinned "Iruka-sensei, I've been trying to fix my Henge, so here goes! **Henge!**" he cried, and in a puff of smoke, he was a young woman with red hair and green eyes (he was mimicking what he'd look like if he'd been born a girl and a mirror image of his mother, no whiskers) wearing the same clothing he would wear if he wasn't wearing his mask.

"Wow," Iruka blinked "Where did the inspiration for this come from?" he asked curiously, and Naruto shrugged "Can you turn into the Yondaime?"

In another puff of smoke, a perfect replica of the Yondaime Hokage stood there. Then he did something Iruka would definitely fall out of his seat at, and he smiled warmly, just as his father had. Iruka's jaw dropped and Mizuki stumbled as the Yondaime spoke, his voice exactly as Naruto and the Chuunin remembered it "So, did I do a good job?"

"N-Naruto, h-how did you m-manage to replicate his voice? Y-You never heard it," Iruka said, shocked.

In another puff of smoke, the Yondaime was gone…and the Rokudaime Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, stood there. He spoke then, in his more comfortable voice "I remember what his voice sounded like, because I remember that night," he swallowed, and in another puff of smoke, he was back to the regular Naruto.

"How could you possibly remember something from so far back?" Iruka asked curiously, and Naruto shrugged. _I can just say it was in a few dreams…_

"I have dreams about it. Only I've had two sets. One of them is from behind the eyes of the Kyuubi, and the other is from behind the eyes of the infant the Yondaime is carrying," Naruto explained, and Iruka nodded, while a surprised Mizuki got up from the floor "So I know what his voice sounds like." _And I listen to it, he was the first one to believe in me and I'll never forget that…_

"_You doing ok Naruto?"_ Ino asked, sounding worried _"Everyone's wondering where you are."_ She showed him an image of the class through the permanent mental link they had established, and Sakura had just asked Ino what she thought was taking so long for a 'dobe' like Naruto to finish his test.

"_I'm fine Ino-chan, just decided to Henge into 2 more people than last time, and I turned into a version of myself using the Henge the first time, who I would have been if I was born a girl and looked more like Kaa-san, though without the whiskers,"_ explained Naruto, getting a mental nod from Ino _"I'll be out when I'm done."_

"Alright, that was very good, Naruto," Iruka said, sounding shaken "I also need for you to perform the Kawarimi for me and the Bunshin," he added, and Naruto nodded, the 'smile' back in place.

"I can do it this time, dattebayo!" he cried, and he pretended to struggle more with the Kawarimi, and flunked the Bunshin on purpose because he knew he couldn't perform the E-ranked jutsu. Instead of 1 dead clone, there were now 10.

"Well, um…" was all Iruka could say, staring at him. Before Mizuki could get to where he could see Naruto, Naruto winked at Iruka, and the Chuunin cleared his throat before saying "Naruto, I can't pass you if you can't use a Bunshin. I will commend you on managing to overload the chakra in this jutsu, but the fact is that you don't have good enough chakra control for the jutsu. We did skip the chakra control test this year because the Bunshin was included in the exam," _I know,_ "but the fact is, if you don't have good chakra control, you can't graduate. I'm sorry."

"Are you sure we can't try to pass him, Iruka? I'm sure if he focused on more clones with the same amount of chakra he would be capable of passing," Mizuki said. Naruto forced down the initial spurt of anger he felt toward the man for the way he'd hurt Iruka, and let it float away into the calm peace he had attained after training in Senjutsu. It wasn't his fault he couldn't do the Bunshin (he'd only managed it by overflowing the house with regular Bunshin when Ino had finally taught it to him); it was, in fact, a benefit to him because he had something just as good that was intangible. The Ghost Clone.

Except the Ghost Clone didn't dispel immediately; it was like a version of the Shadow Clone that could melt through walls and couldn't be touched. It was a mixture jutsu, and involved a bit of youki, but it wasn't difficult for him, and after inventing the jutsu, he'd taught it to Ino (because by that point she'd absorbed about four straight tails of youki (and four more from the Yonbi, but those became divine) from the way his out-of-control 7-tailed form had hurt her, something he didn't like to think about). Both of them had had a nice laugh about his real reason for failing the Bunshin.

"_I take it you failed the Bunshin?"_ Ino asked, and when Naruto just sent her a feeling of satisfaction, she smiled to herself _"I should have known; the place isn't completely overflowing with the damn things, so I'll take it you actually did fail. I'm certain Mizuki will approach you, now go and look forlorn."_

Naruto walked out of the room, pretending to be upset and holding his head low. In reality, it was a tradition in the Uzumaki-Namikaze family to graduate in an unorthodox way. Kushina, his mother, hadn't had a single year's worth of Academy study and yet she passed on her first try, and Minato, his father, had actually dropped out of the Academy to become Jiraiya's student, automatically becoming a shinobi in that way. It was quite amusing to think about, but he hid his amusement as he sat on the swing, pretending the whispers of the proud parents picking their kids up got to him.

He knew Ino would have to talk to Inoichi but Iruka wanted to talk to both of them. Seeing her, he winked, and said _"I'm out here because I want Mizuki-teme to make the same offer as last time and get a nice big fat surprise."_ Ino gave him a nod, and turned back to her father.

Sensing the traitor approach, he looked over at him after he heard his name from the man's lips. There was an Orochimaru-like grin on his face as he asked "Did you know there's a secret way to pass? Iruka wouldn't have told you about it, because it's completely unorthodox, but there is a way. Tonight, I want you to take the Yondaime's Scroll of Seals,"_ already done, it's in my pocket you idiot,_ Naruto thought, but held his tongue; he was good at being subtle if he wanted to be. He and Ino had been hoping their classmates would figure things out, and weren't as careful as they should have been, "and I want you to bring it to the forest outside Konoha to the southwest, to the first clearing you come to after the walls are hidden from sight in the trees. Meet me there and I'll pass you."

_Was I really stupid enough to fall for his tricks last time?_ Patience was a quality he'd developed and learned in spades for the simple reason that it had saved many a life where diplomacy was concerned. Just because he hated the politics game didn't mean he couldn't play it.

"Mizuki-sensei, can I talk to you behind the school before heading home for the day?" Naruto asked politely, and Mizuki, obviously sensing none of the danger surrounding the blond, did as he requested. Boy was he in for a shock…

_I've made up my mind. I'm not going to let him get anywhere __near__ Iruka-sensei and I've already technically passed because Hiruzen made me a shinobi this morning,_ Naruto thought, remembering the last words of the grandfatherly Sandaime this morning.

They had been "Naruto, I want you to know that you are already a shinobi of Konoha even if you fail the graduation exam on purpose. I also want you to keep your father's scroll and learn what you can from it; you may need those skills in the future."

-)-

Ino felt bad for her blond comrade, having to hide who he was even more carefully than she did considering that everyone was watching him. Then again, he was a kitsune, and deception came naturally to him. Hearing him confirm what she was thinking, she gave him a mental nod and turned her attention to face her father, who had a proud smile on his face.

"My princess, a shinobi of Konoha," he said, smiling at her, pride evident in his voice "I hope you weren't too hard on those who didn't pass."

"Of course not, Daddy," Ino said with a smile she actually meant. Inoichi looked momentarily startled and she continued "I've been training in secret, and I think I might have beaten Sakura!"

"That's great, sweetie," said Inoichi "How did your tests go?"

"I don't know my exact results yet, but we can find out tomorrow, or maybe today, depending on how long it took Iruka-sensei to grade our written test papers," explained Ino, and Inoichi nodded. She couldn't believe she had ever taken him or his love for her, for granted the last time around. It had hurt all the more when he had rejected her friendship with Naruto, later her partnership with the Rokudaime (who Inoichi did trust, he just didn't like the idea that his daughter might be dating him), and finally, died to protect her. It had hurt more than she wanted to admit.

_You will not have to die this time Dad. Not again. Never again. Though you may never see me the same way again after the training trip and my revelation, I will always protect you and you will __not__ be dying at Sasuke-__teme's__ hands again!_ She swore, looking up at her father with a warm, yet fierce smile on her face. Noticing Iruka-sensei heading her way, she mentally swore, and waved "Hi Iruka-sensei!"

"Hi, Ino," he said, smiling at her. He turned to Inoichi"I would like to speak with your daughter, and I'm not sure how long it will take. It's about something from earlier, and, um, I don't think you were intended to be there during that time…."

Ino sighed _"Naruto, we have to alter the explanation,"_ Naruto radiated confusion _"Daddy's here and he wants to know what's going on. At least everyone's just about left by now…"_

"_Yeah, I think we can come clean about being friends, but that's it. Then, to get you out for the rest of the day, how about I send a clone to jiji and ask him for an excuse, about a B-ranked mission that can only be done by the two of us?"_ Naruto was quite sharp, she had to give him that. She mentally nodded _"Ok, I've got to talk to Mizuki-sensei behind the school later, but I'll work something out, Ino-chan. I've also already sent the Kage Bunshin to Hiruzen-ji to make sure we get our mission orders."_

Ino broke in right before her father could argue further "It's ok Iruka-sensei; I needed to come forward and talk about it anyway," her father would learn with the rest of the clan heads about the changes that had happened _after_ they did, and not before. And the time travel was going to be their shared secret.

"Talk about what, princess?" asked Inoichi, and then his eyes snapped up to the moving, orange-clad figure headed their way "Iruka, please tell me this doesn't have to do with _him_."

Iruka opened his mouth, but Ino stepped back from her father and openly glared at him "Daddy, I'm ashamed of you. You of all people should know better!" Inoichi blinked at her "I know the cold looks he gets and I know the way people see him. What none of them realize is what it's like to be on the receiving end of all the hatred of the village. He is _not_ what you see him as, or is your sealing scroll suddenly a kunai?" she knew about his sealing scrolls, where they were kept, and she nodded toward his vest as she spoke.

"Ino, he's not safe," Inoichi attempted, but Ino glared at him. "He's the friend you talked about this morning, isn't he?"

"_So __that's__ the lie you used this morning,"_ commented Naruto as he stopped by Ino "Hello Yamanaka-san," he said politely. Inoichi stared at him, shocked and a little confused "You know me by reputation, I presume, but not by who I am. Thanks to Ino, I was able to pass more of the Academy tests this time around, though I failed on the Bunshin no Jutsu," he said all of this with a calm, clear voice.

"I see," Inoichi fumbled a little "Did you help my daughter study as well?" Naruto nodded "May I have a demonstration?"

Ino took up a stance and winked at him. Naruto slid into his own stance, the two of them remaining perfectly relaxed in those stances until Naruto headed at her, using a much slower pace than they hoped to be using later on after their training. Ino dodged his first blow, caught his second, and kicked out hard at him, only for him to bring up a leg and block it. The Uzumaki and Yamanaka traded blows for the next five minutes, evenly matched and each blow matching the other. For every kick there was a kick, for every knee or elbow there was a block, and the ways in which they defended themselves weren't quite as inventive as they were when they dropped all pretenses and _really_ sparred, but for now, they were just showing their skills.

After five minutes, Iruka called "That's enough," and the two stopped, Naruto releasing Ino from the temporary hold he'd had on her to shake her hand "_That_ is what I wanted to ask about, Yamanaka-san," said Iruka, nodding to the two of them. Ino was listening to the whole conversation and she could hear the curiosity but nothing else in Iruka's voice, which meant everything good for both of them.

"I," Inoichi stopped, took a few breaths "Princess, what on _earth_ was that? I've _never_ seen you fight so well!" He was completely shocked, and Ino took a little pride in shocking him "Did you train with _him_ to get this good? You're fighting like you do this every day!"

"Yes, Daddy, that's the point," Ino said patiently "Naruto approached me not long after his twelfth birthday, and we went to a secret training ground in order to train, during some of the times you thought I was out with Sakura or just trying to impress Sasuke. I also learned the Mizu Bunshin, so everyone _believes_ I was doing those things, while in reality I was training with Naruto-what does Hokage-sama want?" she asked, cutting herself off as she saw the messenger bird headed their way. She saw the glint in Naruto's eyes, and knew that meant his clone had dispelled; _"our missions orders?"_

"I don't know," Naruto feigned ignorance quite well "but I have a feeling it's for us, unless your father has a mission again, Ino," he said. The messenger bird screeched twice and dove at Naruto, who extended his left arm at the last second to let the bird get a grip on it. On the back of the bird was a mission request scroll. _"Yeah, these should be them."_

"I-but you didn't pass, Naruto, so why?" was all she said, playing her part perfectly _"This is going to be fun to talk about later…"_ she told him and she got a mental nod in return _"I can't wait until you get that traitor caught, and we can go to the Time House."_

"_Me too. Remember the restrictions on it, for every year you spend in the house, you have to spend a week in the real world recovering, and that's for us hanyou. For humans it's a month, unless you're a Namikaze or Uzumaki…since we're not normal when it comes to vitality. Iruka-sensei could probably match us for endurance; you might not know this, but he's got vitality like a Namikaze, and he's not related to us."_

"_I remember, Naruto,"_ she replied, and Naruto opened the scroll after the bird pecked his ear "Ow! Stupid bird," but then he murmured so softly only she could hear it, "I don't mean that, but peck me anyway," the bird pecked him again, and he scowled a little at it; the bird flew off as he unsealed the mission orders.

The scroll was written in the simple script Naruto had come to associate with Hiruzen, so he looked down at the writing itself.

'_B-rank Mission Request: Naruto Uzumaki and Ino Yamanaka_

_You are hereby requested to come to the Hokage's office later today, as soon as the target (whom I'm sure you both know, but there will be a briefing) for a 2-week-long B-ranked mission. You leave tonight, pack well and remember, all masks fall when you return._

_-Hiruzen Sarutobi, Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure'_

Naruto showed the mission request scroll to Iruka and Inoichi, both of whom stared at it, and Iruka asked "But what could Hokage-sama need you two for?"

Naruto shrugged "He's never given me a real _mission_ before, unless it's 'stay alive'," he chuckled as the two older shinobi looked at him "It's harder than you think to live in a village that desires your death every day of your life, with only a few that don't. I'm glad the masks are falling; it means I can finally be myself."

"_Very wisely played,"_ Ino complimented _"now, we have to explain the Taijutsu ideas, and we can go deal with the rest of today later…why are you talking to Mizuki-sensei behind the school?"_

"_That should be fun. Consult me if you run into trouble,"_ Naruto advised, rolling the scroll back up and turning to the adults "Um, any more questions?" _"It just occurred to me that maybe I can avoid the whole 'Iruka-sensei gets hurt' part of this by taking the guy prisoner. What do you think, Ino-chan?"_

"You've been training together for…seven months now?" asked Inoichi, and Naruto nodded. "Fine, but if Hokage-sama needs you two, then I want you to go, understand?"

"Now, Daddy? Can't we have some time to pack first?" asked Ino, glancing at Naruto _"I'm buying you time; I know your clothes are already packed and I just need to retrieve some of mine. As for taking Mizuki-teme prisoner, how will you officially graduate?"_

"_Damn, you're right. I'll…I'll tell him I forgot what we were talking about and leave." _"We can meet up later, Yamanaka-san; if that's all the questions, Iruka-sensei?" asked Naruto, and the Chuunin nodded "I'm going to go train; Ino, you should probably head home."

"Ok Naruto, see you later," Ino left out the gates with Inoichi, and Iruka turned to Naruto, with a raised eyebrow. Naruto shrugged, and told Ino _"I'll be fixing my chakra control for the rest of the day so I don't think you want to witness that."_

"_No, I'd like to avoid the howler monkey exercise this time around,"_ Ino gave a mental shudder as she walked home with her father, eager to start talking about her mission, but only when she got back _"Last time I got so caked with dung that I really needed a shower and you wouldn't let me down until I got it right. I was right; you _are_ worse than Jiraiya-sama."_

He did exactly that, and then waved goodbye to Mizuki with a false grin on his face. He wasn't falling for this man's tricks a second time.

(Four Hours Later)

Naruto finally finished his training, dispelling his Kage Bunshin, and he felt his wrist tingling. Looking at the bond marking he had formed with Ino, he touched her mind gently, and asked _"Something wrong, Ino-chan?"_

"_No, but Daddy has been hinting that we need to get going. I'm suiting up right now, so go get ready," _she commanded. Naruto smiled, and mentally nodded, disappearing in a Wind Shunshin to his apartment to get ready for his mission. Opening his closet, he unsealed that which he had sealed there earlier that morning. His mission clothes, the clothing he would use to fight Mizuki.

Pulling out a long-sleeved black shirt, he practically tore off his orange jumpsuit in his eagerness to be rid of the orange monstrosity. He pulled the shirt on and re-sized it, re-sizing his pants as he did so, pulling those on immediately afterward. He then strapped on his kunai and shuriken holsters, wincing as he realized he couldn't use the Hiraishin because he didn't have those tools here, and his father had hidden it well, using the kunai as a base and pretending he needed them even without the seals.

He decided to make do without the Hiraishin, and pulled on his vest, which he'd worn earlier. He staggered a little under the weight, fixed the size and gravity seals in it, and zipped it up, finding the Scroll of Seals hidden beneath it. Re-sizing that as well (sealing it into a smaller storage scroll) he slid that into one of his vest pockets, making sure to add the rest of the scrolls he'd need for tonight with it. Naruto then picked up his fingerless, armored shinobi gloves, sliding those on easily over his hands, and unsheathing his claws afterward. Re-sheathing them, he picked up his old, yet new hitai-ate, and smiled sadly.

_Tou-san, Kaa-san…_ he thought, and stowed that away in the scroll that held his ANBU mask and armor as well, because tonight, he wasn't yet a shinobi of Konoha. He had to make things go as closely to the timeline he'd come from as possible so people truly thought he was a dobe. Slipping his feet into his currently-too-large black shinobi sandals, he scowled and re-sized his shoes too; thanking Kami that he'd remembered to put re-sizing seals on all of his clothes and all of Ino's too, as he remembered.

Finishing the look and making sure his ANBU mask was within ready reach, he looked out the window in the direction of the Hokage Tower. They didn't actually have to be there until later that night, so he had something else in mind, though it would have to be done at Ichiraku's. At least his Genjutsu wasn't needed now; he looked in the mirror and looking back at him was a younger version of the face he'd gotten so used to seeing. Just to make sure, he didn't activate his Genjutsu, and headed out the door.

"_**Brat, I really wish you'd let me speak,"**_ Naruto, with practiced ease, ignored the Kyuubi, and the fire starting to fill his veins. So he'd get the eighth tail tonight? That would fit in with their plans.

"_Ino-chan, we might have to change the plans; apparently I'm getting the eighth tonight. Can you meet me at Ichiraku's in your real form? I'd like to talk to Ayame and Teuchi and let them know about our secret before everyone else."_ The reasoning in his tone was clear, but he knew Ino would take awhile to reply.

"_Just like before, when we ate together at Ichiraku's,"_ Ino said, _"as for the eighth, just do your best to control the chakra. I suppose you can transform tonight if you need to…"_ she sounded really worried, and it made Naruto's chest feel tight for the first time since he had realized he didn't love Hinata. Plus, he worried too much about her.

"_I don't think I'll have to, but the Kyuubi is that much closer to death,"_ Naruto replied, trying to ignore the tight feeling of worry in his chest, or that his heartbeat was starting to speed up a little _"Thanks for worrying, though,"_ he flashed her a brilliant mental smile as, under a Henge that stripped him of his whiskers and red-tipped hair, making his hair black and his pupils, nails, and appearance more normal than it would be otherwise, he made his way across the rooftops to the Yamanaka residence _"Head out the door when you feel me outside."_

-)-

Ino was a little confused; her teammate had never invited her to go out with him unless she was feeling down, or he needed someone to talk to. On the other hand, the request for _her_ to go with him (even if she was pretty sure he didn't like her that way…then again, there was a strangely weightless feeling emanating from him through the bond) made her heartbeat speed up and brought a light blush to her cheeks.

"Ino?" asked Izumi; Inoichi was out with his friends drinking "Ino, are you ok?" Ino turned to her mother with a smile and nodded "Did you make a mental bond with this friend of yours?" she asked.

_Damn, she really does know me like the back of her hand,_ thought Ino, before she nodded, and smiled at her mother "He told me I've got to get ready to go, which means no more ponytail and no more halter tops for me!" she quickly dressed in a long-sleeved dark blue shirt and black sweats, slipping on her black sandals and weighted vest (which was re-sized like the rest of her clothing) on quickly. Then she proceeded to braid a spiky strap into her hair, and to her annoyance, her hair didn't reach down as long as it had before. Attaching a weight to its end made her hair feel heavier, but not by much, and it didn't hurt like it would have once. She finished by putting on her kunai and shuriken pouches, armored fingerless gloves, and tying her hitai-ate around her head.

She looked back at her mother, who was staring at her, mouth agape, as Ino slipped another storage scroll, this one containing everything she needed for tonight, into the vest's scroll pouch. Ino smiled at her "I'm going on a two-week long mission, remember Mom?" she asked. She _had_ told her mother about her mission "I have to leave today, and I figured the vest," she had a minor Genjutsu over the symbols on it, so her mother couldn't see the markings for Elite Jounin on the back "would come in handy, along with what's in it. One of the orders for the mission was for it to be classified, so I'm risking a lot by telling you this…"

Izumi recovered from her shock and smiled at her daughter "You look beautiful, Ino. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were going on this mission with a boy you really liked," Ino tried and failed to suppress a blush, and her mother smiled knowingly at her. "I'd like to meet this special friend of yours, maybe after the mission?" she asked "Will you get in trouble for telling me?"

"No, I won't get in trouble for telling you, but it's…well, it's classified as a B-rank, and it came directly from Hokage-sama. Don't tell Daddy that I like the boy; he'll go nuts and I really don't want to get in trouble," Ino said, though she was thinking more along the lines of releasing the ninth tail to Naruto early and causing the Nine-Tailed Lord, heir of the Namikaze and Uzumaki clans, to emerge. Which, come to think of it, would throw off their plans, but not by much.

"Don't worry sweetie, I won't tell your father," said Izumi with a smile "Can I have a hug before you go?" she asked, and Ino hugged her tightly "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too, Mom," Ino wasn't surprised at the feeling in her heart, a feeling that she might not see Izumi again, despite the fact that she'd died years ago, and she wasn't going to die for a few more years in this timeline, "I'll come home as soon as I can, but I'll be returning for team assignments and I'll probably be home for dinner, and maybe with this teammate of mine."

"Ok," Izumi and Ino parted, and Ino smiled at her "Go, before your father gets home. I'll tell him you said goodbye, and you wished he was here," Ino nodded, and then proceeded to jump out of her window, channeling chakra into her legs as she jumped up to the rooftop where she saw Naruto waiting. He was just a silhouette of spiky hair against a lighter sky, but she knew it was him from his chakra signature.

The Namikaze heir was looking at her with a strange expression in his eyes. He blinked, and it was gone, as he asked silently _"Your mother knows of the mental bond?"_

"_Yes, I couldn't hide it from her,"_ Ino confessed,_ "She really wants to meet you, you know. I don't think she'd mind if you were…well, acting as the real you. So you want to go to Ichiraku's?"_ she asked, as they started roof-hopping in the direction of the Hokage Tower. Naruto nodded _"Well, lead the way!"_

Naruto chuckled and, still under his Henge, led Ino (who put up her own Henge, making her hair brown and getting rid of the hanyou attributes) to Ichiraku's. The two of them sat down on stools, and Teuchi asked "Well, what can I do for the two of you?"

Naruto smiled, and looked around quickly. Seeing that business wasn't kicking off for the night, at least not yet, he leaned in and murmured "Hey Teuchi-oji-san."

The ramen chef stared at him, and rubbed his eyes "N-Naruto?" he asked, and Naruto nodded "Why are you under a Henge?"

"I'd rather not get in trouble for looking like my real self; you'll see me, the _real_ me, when I get back from my mission," Naruto replied, smiling "though I'm not a hyper, orange-wearing idiot anymore. I act more along the lines of how Tou-san did," he winked at the ramen chef "and this is my teammate, also under a Henge."

"A more powerful version of the real Henge," corrected Ino with a smile, though softly "I'm Ino Yamanaka, but you probably know me as one of Sasuke's main fan girls." Teuchi nodded "You couldn't be more wrong." She gave the ramen chef a foxy grin and said "I've been over the Uchiha since Naruto's birthday. Shortly afterward, he came to me for help with his Taijutsu, and I agreed to train with him, though we kept it very secret since my parents wouldn't approve. I also think most of the villagers are bigoted _bastards_, not to mention the clan heads; I mean, who _would_ Yondaime have picked to carry the fox, but his own flesh and blood?" Teuchi's eyes widened and he stared at the two of them "Naruto and I both know the truth of what happened that night. I think he's a nice person, once you get him to trust you. And believe me, that took awhile," the two disguised blonds shared a laugh at that.

Teuchi nodded "I take it you would like some ramen?" he asked softly, and Naruto nodded "What flavor?"

"Well, I'll let you choose," he said, turning to Ino. "I'd like a bowl of miso ramen myself, and make it a large bowl, please," Teuchi was visibly pleased with his request and turned to Ino. _"Ino-chan, if someone finds us, we call ourselves, for me Kenshiki and for you, Kin, ok?"_

"_Sure,"_ Ino replied, flushing a little at the attention he was giving her. She turned to the ramen chef "I'd also like a bowl of miso ramen, a _large_ bowl," she grinned at the disguised Namikaze next to her "Naruto corrupted me, and I love ramen just like he does, now. Though, I'm not a ramen nut."

"Hey, I am _not_ a ramen nut!" protested Naruto, and Teuchi and Ino both laughed "Oh, fine," he shook his head "You double-teamed me, Kin-chan," he winked at her as he spoke, letting her know that he was using this to his advantage as a disguise.

"That happens, Kenshiki-_kun_," she emphasized the suffix she placed on his name, and he blinked at her _"Uhh…I'm really surprised…don't get me wrong…Ino-chan are you flirting with me?"_ Ino gave him a foxy grin in reply.

"_Now that, you'll have to find out for yourself,"_ she replied, as their ramen arrived. They both began eating, but not at the rapid pace Naruto had once vacuumed up ramen at. Instead, they ate a bit more slowly, and with more manners, but by the time they had finished at the ramen stand, both the Yamanaka and Uzumaki had piled up a total of five large bowls, having shared the last one.

"What's the total on this?" asked Naruto/Kenshiki, and Teuchi held it out to show him "Damn. I don't have that much with me; can I pay you when I get back from my mission, oji-san? I have the mission, and after it I can claim my inheritance," he explained. Ino was hoping he'd actually believe them.

"Sure, your father did much the same thing a few times, even when he was Hokage," Teuchi said softly "Now, you'd better get going." Ino hopped off her stool, nodding her thanks to the ramen chef. Teuchi just smiled at the two of them "You two remind me of Kushina and Minato before they started dating."

Both of them flushed a little, and more so as Ino realized she and Naruto were holding hands. Sometime during their talk with Teuchi, their hands had found their way together, but neither wanted to let go and both were somewhat embarrassed about being caught together. Ayame came over, and seeing their predicament, called "You might want to roof-hop!"

Ino flushed furiously, but didn't let go of Naruto's hand as the two of them roof-hopped to the Hokage Tower. They only released their hands when they landed on the outside of the tower and ended up arriving through the window to the Hokage's office. Sarutobi had a smile on his face and he asked "Did you have fun at Ichiraku's?"

Naruto, having just undone his Genjutsu, blushed and didn't reply. Ino felt similar heat rising in her own cheeks at the Hokage's question, and Naruto asked tentatively through the link _"Ino-chan…are you mad at me for holding your hand?"_

"_No, it felt nice…but we're going to be distracted by a relationship now…"_ Ino tried, and then she rolled her eyes _"who am I kidding? We both need someone to rely on, and we've been relying on each other for the past six years since Asuma-sensei died. Can we work this out later, since we have a mission to do?"_ she asked, and Naruto nodded.

"I'll take that as a yes, you did have fun," Hiruzen said, smiling at the two of them. Then he cleared his throat "back to the mission I'm assigning you," the two blonds nodded, as Ino undid her Genjutsu, "This morning after you left, Naruto, I searched the Hokage's library for the Yondaime's Scroll of Seals. I did not find it. Might you have the future copy with you?"

Naruto snapped his fingers, ignoring the tiny spark that appeared "Damn, they must have merged when I got to this timeline, since I was carrying Tou-san's scroll. I dearly hope there are no ANBU listening in on us," he added, and Ino felt his chakra senses wash through the room through the link. She scanned the room with her own chakra, and Naruto nodded, satisfied "Good, when did you dismiss them?"

"I dismissed them after I saw you leaving Ichiraku's and told them I had an S-class secret to discuss with a few shinobi, and they weren't allowed to hear it," replied Sarutobi with a smile. Naruto shared a look with Ino, who commented silently _"How very kitsune of you."_

The both of them cracked up, and were soon laughing, along with the Hokage after Naruto told him the joke. Naruto had tears streaming down his face as he grasped his stomach, which hurt from laughing so hard, and Ino recovered first, shortly followed by the other two.

"I needed that," Naruto said with a grin "I haven't laughed so hard since Lee used Dynamic Entry on me back when Ino-chan and I were both seventeen, and he gave me a _birthday spar_ of all things. It was fun, but amusing, especially since he was screaming about the Fire of Youth when he kicked me. You remember, don't you Ino-chan?" he asked, and Ino nodded.

That had been the best birthday party Naruto had had, aside from the one he'd had at the age of fifteen, which was only a day after he'd been inaugurated as Hokage. Lee had 'crashed' the party, TenTen and Neji not far behind him, and the Rokudaime Hokage had gotten into a big spar with the three of them. He was able to use most of his power without fear of hurting them and he _enjoyed_ their spar, though he did manage to defeat them. Ino was watching from the sidelines, and she offered helpful criticism of the four of their fighting abilities and styles. Unfortunately, it hadn't been enough, as before Naruto's eighteenth birthday, the three on Team Gai, shortly following their sensei, were killed in an Otogakure raid.

"Is this Lee named Lee Rock, and might he be the student of Gai Maito?" asked Sarutobi, his eyes twinkling with mirth. Naruto nodded "I see. I take it you were close in the future?"

"Lee was one of the few people I could spar against who didn't get broken bones when I used my hanyou strength," Naruto admitted "Ino-chan doesn't, but that's because she absorbed, I think a total of eight tails of energy, four of them youki, since she absorbed all of the Yonbi's, purifying it when she killed it and four in _that incident_, in which we both showed Kyuubi who's boss. And it can get boring fighting the same person all the time," he finished, and Sarutobi nodded.

"So you enjoyed his rivalry, while your father was slightly confused by Gei, Gai's father, when he declared him one of his 'eternal rivals'. Sakumo Hatake was his other 'rival', and Gei has since retired and is living at home. Gai's mother died when he was four, so his father has raised him his whole life, and if I didn't know better I'd say Lee was Gai's son," said Sarutobi. Ino smiled sadly at the memory; _He does become Gai-sensei's son, you know…and he loves Gai like his father._

"I'm not really sure whose son Lee is, but when Gai adopted him, it made his week," Naruto replied "So, time to trick the traitor," he rolled his eyes "Ino-chan, we'd better go, before he gets ideas." Ino nodded; she knew what Mizuki was like and she didn't know if the timeline would be affected. Unsealing her ANBU mask from within her scroll, she readied herself to use it, slipping it onto her left shoulder over the armor there.

_I won't let you fight this battle alone, Naruto. Not this time._

The pair of blonds nodded to Sarutobi and Naruto added "You might want to prepare for the council to lose most of their political sway when I return. I'm going to claim my inheritance as Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze," Sarutobi nodded, looking a little apprehensive of what would happen.

"I'll let them yap but I won't let them do anything," replied Sarutobi, and an evil grin made its way across his face. Ino _knew_ he was thinking of what he could do when the council tried to refute Naruto's claim "and who knows, it might be enough to make a certain jutsu usable, and the revival of your father to scream at them completely plausible…"

"I'll leave you to your planning jiji," Naruto said, and Ino headed out the window with Naruto, giving a thumbs-up to the Hokage, who winked at her.

They headed out in the direction of the woods, and once they arrived in the correct clearing, Naruto sat down, and patted the grass, so she sat down as well, crossing her legs just as Naruto did.

"Naruto, what are we doing while we wait?" she asked, knowing they'd have just about all night to wait. Naruto blinked at her question, before nodding; _off planning again…I should hit his head for that but I know it's for good reason._

"I want you to help me come up with a plan," Naruto replied, taking out a blank scroll from within one of the pouches of his vest. It had most likely come from a seal, knowing Naruto "I can't do this alone, Ino-chan, and I need to know _now_ if you want to be on my team, or on your old one. And I need to know who the sensei of our team will be. I'll tell you the possible combinations, since I'd rather not be removed from Team Seven unless absolutely necessary. Family tradition," he said, as Ino raised an eyebrow.

_Oh. His father was on Team Seven, and Jiraiya, so I can see that,_ she realized "So, what are the possible teams?" she asked, curious now "I know we could get promoted easily, but we need to have a counterweight for Sasuke, so that is automatically you. I guess the difference is in your third teammate, am I right?" Naruto nodded "Well…I don't know about Sakura. I think she should be placed with Kurenai-sensei, because I know Team Eight could whip her into shape, but I also know that being stuck with Shikamaru and Chouji might even her out a bit. She might even find that she likes someone else, not Sasuke," Ino blushed a little at the reminder that _she_ liked someone else, and that someone else was sitting right in front of her.

Naruto nodded "Jiji gave me a list of all the graduates and possible senseis, but we have to request the correct teams. I know he doesn't normally do this, but we're not normal people," he said, pulling a second scroll out of his pocket "He gave it to me while we were laughing, along with the current team assignments based on the strengths and weaknesses of our classmates and ourselves, including me in the running." However, a strange feeling, one that nearly mirrored hers (like she could leap mountains), but felt as though he could destroy Chronos seeped through the bond as he looked at her.

Unfurling the scroll, she and Naruto looked at it. Currently the team assignments were:

Team One: Hayate Gekkou (sensei); students, Ami Tsuchi, Jing Kurotsuchi, Shuichi Minami

Team Two: Yuugao Uzuki (sensei); Yusuke Urameshi, Yakumo Kurama, Sui Araiki

Team Three: Genma Shiranui (sensei); Ferio Morisato, Keiichi Morisato, Verdandi

Team Four: Raido Namiashi (sensei); Ryuu Shidou, Hikaru Shidou, Raiga

Team Five: Anko Mitarashi (sensei); Umi Ryuuzaki, Fuu Hououji, Kuu Hououji

Team Six: Urdu (sensei); Ferio Morisato, Keiichi Morisato, Verdandi

Team Seven: Kakashi Hatake (sensei); Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, Sasuke Uchiha, Ino Yamanaka

Team Eight: Kurenai Yuuhi (sensei); Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuuga, Sakura Haruno

Team Ten: Asuma Sarutobi (sensei); Shikamaru Nara, Shino Aburame, Chouji Akimichi

Ino frowned at the troubling turn of events. She hadn't intended for the Hokage to be of the mind to place her with Naruto and Sasuke, and act as the in-between for sun and moon (Naruto being Sun), but at the same time, they would be far more effective if she was able to work with Naruto. Having Sakura and Hinata on the same team, however, was a recipe for trouble.

"I think Sakura and Shino should switch, because Team Ten will need a medic, and while I'm already trained as a medic, Sakura needs training and I know that Asuma-sensei will direct her to Kurenai-sensei if they pass," Ino finally replied "I think otherwise, me being on your team is an act of genius because it means I don't have to have an excuse to train with you." _Besides, I'd rather be on your team, Naruto._ However, she didn't say this, through the mental link or aloud.

Naruto looked at her in surprise "Don't you want to have some effect on Team Ten?" Ino shook her head "Why not?" she shrugged "Ok Ino, spill, what is it you're thinking?"

"I want Sakura and Shikamaru to get along; if they had only gotten along sooner we would not have lost so many lives," Naruto nodded, agreeing with her logic "Sakura and Shikamaru are both smart and Chouji and Shikamaru's presence will snap Sakura out of her fan girl mode. Of course, I will try to rekindle our friendship, but it will have to wait until after the Wave Mission, which I'm hoping we can make a group mission with them. That way we can force Shika into working, and get Team Ten working together. I know you haven't had any luck with Sasuke, but if we keep trying with him, after getting on his team, I'm certain that with both of us there, and no fan girls, he will be less likely to defect. Especially if you teach him what family means," she added "but if he defects, we're both going to kill him and drag his body back to Konoha."

"I agree," Naruto replied, cracking his knuckles. Taking out an ink brush, he made the changes she'd suggested to the list, switching Sakura and Shino "Is that all, though? I know your team was relatively ineffective, since you had no combat medic, and my team was doomed to hell…"

"I want Sakura to be able to save Asuma-sensei, but in case she isn't, I want you to give him a permanent Hiraishin seal," Ino requested, and Naruto nodded "I also want to suggest to Kakashi-sensei that we do group training with that team, so we can interact with him. We could even help him refine his wind blade techniques; Kakashi-sensei will have to focus on keeping Sasuke happy, and if we manage to distract him…with something shiny, per se…" Naruto nodded, looking thoughtful "How was he like last time?" Naruto had been around him the most, so he would know.

"He was a broody bastard," Naruto said bluntly, but he was straight to the point "My sealed self didn't make life any easier. I was annoying as hell, Sakura was even worse, and Sasuke had all the more reason to defect because we were both so irritating at first. He also had no respect for us _whatsoever_ compared to when I finally stuck my hand through his chest," Naruto's face closed down "You know when the problems started, but you don't really know _why_. Sasuke is, or was _jealous_ of the power of the so-called 'dead-last' while I still had the seals on. I don't intend to let things happen the same way twice even if it means allowing our bodies to age in the Time House." He sighed "Sasuke is obsessed with getting revenge on his brother, even if that means killing off every single loyal Konoha shinobi in the process. If we agree to help him get revenge and convince him that his brother was telling him a lie about hatred being the way to true power, we might be able to fix what happened and keep him loyal. In lieu of that being impossible, I'll bring him back…dead or alive. I'm not picky about it.

Ino nodded; it all made sense now, the reason why Sasuke defected. She hadn't seen things from the right perspective until Naruto explained it to her. "So I guess that's the plan," she said, smiling "We can train ourselves silly for the next two weeks, after we finish this. I agree with you; if Sasuke defects, we bring him back, dead or alive. I'm not letting you do this again, and definitely _not_ alone, Naruto. Wait, and listen to me first," she raised her hand as he opened his mouth to protest "I'm your partner and teammate no matter what happens and I think we could both make our relationship go farther, if we tried. Would you like to try that in the Time House?" at his nod, she continued "I'm not going to let you fight alone. Don't even think about it Namikaze. Now…should we meditate?"

"I guess I'll go shut the fox up," replied Naruto, rolling the scroll back up and forming a hand-seal; two Kage Bunshin appeared "Guard the edges of the clearing for us; when someone's coming, one of you dispel and the other distract." The two clones saluted him and went off to do their job.

Ino sat down and began to meditate next to Naruto, who was sitting cross-legged looking completely peaceful. Closing her eyes, she allowed herself to fall into the familiar rhythm of her breathing, and soon the thoughts exited her mind, allowing her to release all of the tension that had been building up inside of her. She loved meditation because it calmed her down in a way nothing else could.

-)-

It had been about six hours when the first clone dispelled and Naruto's eyes shot open. He heard the sound of shouting from the edge of the clearing, and gently shook Ino, _"Ino-chan, someone's here,"_ blinking, the Yamanaka heiress rubbed her eyes a little _"Why don't you put on your ANBU mask, so we can really shock him?"_asked Naruto, activating his Genjutsu.

"I'll do that," she replied, slipping on the golden Lion mask from where it had hung on her shoulder, and disappearing to land in a nearby tree. Naruto turned toward the edge of the clearing just as Mizuki burst in, his clone dispelling instantly after Mizuki made his way past it.

"Mizuki-sensei!" cried Naruto, a grin on his face (beneath the Genjutsu it was shit-eating, and he could feel Ino's anticipation and her own mirth as she looked at him in his Genjutsu) "I have the scroll!" he pointed to the Henge'd log on his back "Do I pass now?"

"Hurry Naruto, give me the scroll!" cried Mizuki, rushing at him, and Naruto was about to and laugh, when he felt Iruka approaching. Instead, he sat back to watch the proceedings, mentally of course.

"_Iruka-sensei's here; don't do anything rash, Ino-chan,"_ he warned her, and all he got was a feeling of contentment from her when Iruka burst into the clearing.

"Don't do it Naruto; he wants you to betray the village," Iruka said, panting, and Naruto blinked, allowing his real eyes to look into Iruka's as he barely nodded "Mizuki, how could you?" demanded Iruka "The village"

"Fuck the village, I'm going to Orochimaru-sama, and there's nothing you or that damned Kyuubi can do to stop me!" shouted Mizuki, darting around Iruka and slipping the scroll off of Naruto's back. The Jinchuuriki hanyou grinned foxily at him, and formed a single hand-seal "What's so funny?"

"Boom," was all Naruto said, flipping backward and dispelling his Genjutsu "**Namikaze Genjutsu Fuuin: Kai,**" commanded the Jinchuuriki, pulling Iruka behind him as the log exploded in Mizuki's face; he disappeared in a puff of smoke to be replaced with a log that was blown to smithereens. Naruto chuckled a bit and darted forward in a silent shunpo, taking Mizuki by the neck "You honestly thought I believed you," he whispered in a deadly cold voice "I've known about the fox for years now. Good job," he said, clenching his clawed hand into a fist and slowly but surely beginning to crush the Chuunin's windpipe, as Ino appeared out of the tree

"Taichou," Ino said "You should save some of his guts for Ibiki to break," Naruto cocked an eyebrow, looked intrigued, and nodded, before punching Mizuki in the gut, forcing him to double over. Ino jumped out of the tree and pointed Akuma at Mizuki's neck, the blade now in the form of a wakizashi "You will yield, Mizuki Touji," she said, acting as Kin Shishi "or you will die."

"Fuck you," spat the Chuunin in her face, and Naruto brought his knee up in between Mizuki's legs. A loud scream that echoed as if he was trying to hit the high note of an opera sounded through the clearing as Naruto's knee connected. He was doubled over in pain, gasping, and Naruto folded his arms to glare at him "D-Demon," he panted "H-How?"

"I've known who I was from my third birthday," Naruto said coldly "and the fox is dying; it will be dead in a year thanks to the seal," continuing to look at Mizuki with an icy glare, he added "If you don't want to be paralyzed, surrender." Mizuki spat at him and reached out to claw his arm, but he never made it that far; Naruto grabbed his arm and swiftly threw him into a tree, the crack of breaking bone indicating that the traitor wasn't getting back up "Kin," he turned to her, and then winced "Eighth is now, Kin."

"Hai taichou," replied Kin/Ino, smirking at him from behind the mask, and she turned to Iruka, "Umino-san, are you in need of any healing from the traitor's attack, or did taichou get to you in time?" Iruka was staring at them openmouthed, but he shook his head "Good, you can ask questions now," she lifted her mask to reveal her face and winked at him "I'm certain you have many. Taichou, I'd back up if I were you, remember the sixth and seventh caused columns."

"How long?" he asked weakly "How long have you two been in ANBU?" Naruto looked at Ino, _"Ino-chan?"_ he asked as he backed up to where he wasn't in range to hurt them. Then he sank to his knees, as burning pain enveloped his body.

"_I think we should tell him,"_ replied Ino, and Naruto nodded in acceptance, just barely. She turned to Iruka "Iruka-sensei, if you wait for two weeks, after which our mission will be complete, we will explain everything then. It is our final secret, after all," the two blonds shared a look as Naruto's body heated up and Naruto nodded to him.

"What's happening, Naruto?" asked Iruka, taking a concerned step forward. Naruto held up his hand, and shook his head. He didn't want to hurt Iruka by accident and he knew this would, if he didn't control it fast.

He stood shakily as his ears began to shift, and crossed his arms in front of his chest. _"Ino-chan…this is more painful than the seventh…at least twenty times…"_ he gasped through the link _"I'm sorry…shut the link…if it's causing too much pain…"_

She shook her head slightly _"I'm good; just allow the chakra to fly, and quickly!"_

With a roar, Naruto forced his arms down and a brilliant golden light shot out of him, as a torrent of power rushed through him. Kyuubi screamed in absolute agony as he drew out all _eight_ of his tails and continued to scream, the chakra column attracting much attention from the village at large (it woke up all the shinobi and half the civilian populace).

When the column faded, Naruto was down on one knee, panting. His Genjutsu was gone, and eight sun-kissed blond fox tails tipped in blood-and-fire red swung behind him freely as his ears had also changed to fox ears of the same coloration, tipped in the same red fur. He winced as he rose to his feet **"Sorry about that…Kyuubi likes to make my life difficult,"** he looked at his hands, and winced a little more; his claws were far more noticeable in this form and while he sounded demonic, he also knew he sounded genuinely apologetic **"Give me a second, and I'll go back to human; Iruka-sensei I'll tell you in a minute ok?"**

Iruka could only nod, staring at Naruto with his mouth agape in shock, and to Naruto's shock there was no fear in his eyes. Ino smiled at him _"He doesn't hate or fear you Naruto-kun, and neither do I. You might be a hanyou but hey, I'm technically a four-tailed hanyou myself, so it doesn't matter. I __am__ glad I don't have to face gaining more tails just yet."_

"Why did you show me this? I would never have guessed it," Iruka said, looking at Naruto in confusion "Why, Naruto?"

"Because we trust you, you're allowed to know the secret, but honestly the only person that knows aside from the Hokage, Neko-san, Baku-san, and Inu-san that we're not exactly normal is you; and the Yondaime's scroll was given to me," he added with a wink, standing up straight and completely human, aside from the feral attributes he always had in his human form "What kind of hero would sacrifice someone else's child when he could trust his own child with the power?" Iruka's mouth fell open.

"How long have you known?" he asked curiously, and Naruto held up his finger in a motion that meant 'shh' as he felt the ANBU approaching to take Mizuki away "But"

"We'll explain in two weeks, and not sooner," Naruto winked at him and put his hand on Ino's shoulder "Until then, make sure the traitor doesn't escape and tell the Hokage we've left…Isamu," with that, he activated the Hiraishin and vanished in a yellow flash, leaving Iruka standing there dumbfounded.

The two blonds reappeared just outside the Time House. It was kind of non-descript, and definitely not as large as the house the Namikaze clan had, but it was large enough for them to use, and the gates contained the seals, so they could also train on the grounds. Both blonds walked in and Naruto shut the gates behind them, activating the seals with a hand-seal gesture.

"**Time Seal: Fuuin, 2 years 2 weeks,**" he whispered, and the gate clicked shut, the way out disappearing as the seals shone around the house, blurring the outside world. He turned to Ino, who quickly put away her ANBU mask "Let's get to work, Ino-chan."

"You got it, Naruto-kun!" she exclaimed, and the two of them headed inside to prepare for their two years' worth of training.

The Time House puts enough strain on you that you won't get to use it much and Naruto and Ino would rather keep it secret from their teammate Sasuke and sensei Kakashi if necessary.

-The Namikaze clan made the seals a long time ago and since they affect time, they are timeless.

R&R please! Next chapter is the day of team assignments, summary of their work in the Time House, and the day Naruto and Ino come forward!

Explanation of terms you may not know; if you know these, you can skip right to the review button(but I'm not a review hound; I really don't mind on the review thing; I've got a bad habit of not reviewing myself, so I won't be offended), or you can just read it and be happy you read it. The below is for those who do not know of what is there (though a Google Image Search will bring up a few images of the characters; your imagination can do the rest).

Konohagakure no Sato/Konohagakure/Konoha: The Village Hidden in the Leaves, headed by the Hokage

Hokage Monument: Cliff overlooking the village with the heads of the previous Hokages on it

Hokage: Fire Shadow

Mizukage: Water Shadow

Kazekage: Wind Shadow

Kusakage: Grass Shadow (you might see this term later on)

Tsuchikage: Earth Shadow

Raikage: Lightning Shadow

Bijuu: Divine Demon Lords or Tailed Demon Lords (in this fanfiction; also called Tailed Beasts & Divine Tailed Beasts or Tailed Spirits)

Juubi: Ten-Tails

Kyuubi: Nine-Tails

Hachibi: Eight-Tails

Nanabi (for the purposes of my fanfiction it is the Nanabi since Shichibi is a bit harder for me to instantly say 'oh, that's _that_ bijuu'): Seven-Tails

Rokubi: Six-Tails

Gobi: Five-Tails

Yonbi: Four-Tails

Sanbi: Three-Tails

Nibi: Two-Tails

Ichibi: One-Tail

Hierarchy goes from 1 to 9; the Juubi is the 10th, believed to be sealed into a large statue-like form that will awaken if all 9 bijuu are sealed into it

For the official Tailed Demon Lords, all of the above are titles for 'THE' Divine Demon Lord.

Yoko: I can't write this with the accent on it but it means Demon Fox

Kitsune: Something you'll definitely see since I can't write Yoko correctly; Fox Spirit

Inu: Dog

Neko: Cat

Bakemono: Demon

Shi: Death

Six-pronged shuriken: Twin weapons to the tri-pronged kunai; special shuriken used by the 4th Hokage

Yondaime: 4th

Sandaime: 3rd

Nidaime: 2nd

Shodai: 1st (if I write it as Shodai with the me on the end, it's as if I'm saying Shodai twice; I found that on an author's page and have never stopped referring to the 1st as the Shodai)

Hitai-ate: headband with a metal plate on it bearing a symbol; the Konoha symbol is a whirlpool with a beak on the lower left when you look directly at it and a tail extending a little off the upper right. It looks almost like a leaf. Others are: Iwa (Village Hidden in Stone led by Tsuchikage); a few boulders arranged around each other, Suna (Village Hidden in the Sands led by Kazekage); an hourglass with a band above it, Kumo (Village Hidden in Clouds led by Raikage); two clouds, the front one with a lightning bolt coming out of it, Kusa (Village Hidden in Grass; not a major village but the leader insists on being called the Kusakage); a seemingly random scribbled line, and Kiri (Village Hidden in the Mist led by the Mizukage); four almost random lines sloping gently to the lower left from the right arranged in a square

Youki: Demonic Chakra. Far more potent than human chakra and far more dangerous

Shinku Senkou: Crimson Flash

Kiiroi Senkou: Yellow or Golden Flash (In some places the nickname Yellow Flash means coward, so I wanted to make sure you got the correct translation)

If you don't know what shinobi clothing standards are, then search it in Google Images; it won't be too hard to find.

Jounin: High-ranking ninja.

Sannin: Legendary Three Ninja/Shinobi (Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru)

Chuunin: middle-ranking ninja

Genin: low-ranking ninja; trained by a Jounin instructor in squads of 3 Genin per 1 Jounin

Academy Student: Student studying to become a shinobi

kage: shadow; can also be used to describe one of the leaders of the villages

Kage: Title awarded to the leader of the combined Shinobi Nations

Chakra: If you don't know what chakra is, it's a mixture of spiritual, physical and _slight_ mental energy. Spiritual energy is mana, physical is chi, and mental energy is psi, short for psiki. Ki is used to broadly describe energy

Rokudaime: Sixth

Godaime: Fifth

Akatsuki: Red Dawn; organization of S-class missing-nin

Great Shinobi World Wars: Secret world wars fought amongst the Elemental Countries by the Hidden Villages; the regular civilians, unless they live in a shinobi village, have no idea of the wars. There were 3 wars before Naruto's birth. His father, Minato, was a war hero and the hero of the people.

Missing-nin: Shinobi gone rogue from their village. Hunter-nin, elite ANBU (who are the elites of Konoha; the others will be revealed slowly but all have capitalized names) who specialize in tracking and capturing, are sent to hunt them down lest their deaths reveal secrets of their villages to others

Class ranking system: E to A, and then S above that. E is the easiest, and A is the highest of those five. S is above that, and there are the two classes above regular S, S+ (about Jiraiya's skill level, and he's capable of taking on and winning against the Akatsuki when they work alone) and SS (invented for Minato because of the Hiraishin; the sheer difference in power is amazing between him and any other shinobi & it's a shame he died so young, to seal the Kyuubi into Naruto).

Tenshi Shouten: Angel of Death

Ero-Sennin: Pervy-sage; affectionate nickname for Jiraiya

Hijutsu: Hidden arts or Clan arts (shinobi)

Kinjutsu: forbidden arts (shinobi)

Kenjutsu: The way of the sword (shinobi & samurai but the story's about shinobi)

Ninjutsu: Broad category encompassing Ninja Arts as a whole

Taijutsu: hand-to-hand combat

Genjutsu: Illusions that both can and can't be there in reality; require good chakra control

Fuuinjutsu: Sealing Arts; Seals Masters are rare and hard to come by because this is such a difficult subject to study

Sensei: Teacher; suffix attached to a teacher's name

Shishou: master; suffix attached to a master (teacher)'s name

Shippuden: Hurricane

Naruto: can mean either 'fishcake' or 'maelstrom' but the characters written for his name read 'maelstrom'

Akuma: Devil

Otou/Tou-san/chan/sama/dono or Chichi-ue or any form of the titles: Father/Daddy/Dad

Okaa/Kaa-san/chan/sama/dono or Haha-ue or any form of the titles: Mother/Mommy/Mom

Kai: Release

Tenshi: Angel

Shouten: Death

Susano-o no Arashi: Tempest or Storm of the Storm God (Susano-o is the storm god in Japanese mythology)

Shinigami: God of Death

Kami: Overseeing God; has power over the other gods if Kami chooses to use it

Shiki Fuujin: Reaper Death Seal

Jutsu: Technique or Art

Hand-seals: used to help mold chakra; I forget which ones are which (I have a bad memory for those sorts of things, especially since I've only seen them 3 times in a list in a library book, sorry!); there can be special one-handed ones as well as clan ones

Hanyou: Half-demon

Hanten: My own invented terminology for a half-angel; figured you should know it

Youma/Youkai: Youma is monster or demonic monster; Youkai is another word for demon

Jashin(ist): The Cult of Jashin is worshipped by one of the villains of the Naruto-verse, Hidan of the Akatsuki. Jashinists are immortal as long as they continue to spill blood in the name of their god, Jashin, which when translated into English means evil heart or evil design.

Chidori: Assassination technique that means 'thousand birds'; the evolved form that only Kakashi can use is Raikiri, or 'Lightning Blade'. Sasuke learned this technique from Kakashi in the original timeline (canon) and by the time he died had changed it into multiple forms as he had a lightning affinity as his major elemental affinity.

Fuuin: command used for 'seal'

Kaiho: Open/unleash (command to open and shut Rashomon gates)

Jiji: affectionate nickname for Hiruzen Sarutobi, the 3rd Hokage; it means old man

Oji/Ji-san/chan/sama/dono- Grandfather/grandpa

Mago-musuko: Grandson

Musuko/sochi: Musuko is 'my son' or 'son', and sochi is just 'son'

Chan: Affectionate suffix that I will use to denote a sort of liking beyond regular friendship; Naruto's name for Ino ever since her mother died is 'Ino-chan'

Kun: Affectionate suffix that I will use to denote a sort of liking beyond regular friendship; as you see in the above chapter, Naruto is now 'Naruto-kun' to Ino since they're dating

Tora: Tiger

Hayate's ANBU mask, in case I haven't mentioned it before, is Ghost

Senjutsu: Sage Arts

Sennin: Sage

Shinobi: Ninja; I will call them shinobi, however

Each shinobi village is listed below in proper form:

Konohagakure no Sato

Kumogakure no Sato

Iwagakure no Sato

Sunagakure no Sato

Kirigakure no Sato

Kusagakure no Sato

(Former) Uzushiogakure no Sato (Village Hidden in the Tides; led by the Uzukage, or Spiral Shadow)

Takigakure no Sato (Village Hidden in a Waterfall; minor village; symbol is an incompletely drawn arrow with two lines, looking like a waterfall)

Kin: Gold

Shishi: Lion


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Ok, I noticed that I made a mistake with chapter four's team assignments. Team Three retains their sensei, but the people are Haruka Mizu, Makoto Shishio, and Dai Ryuuken. Sorry about that.**

**I'm also sorry I haven't posted this but it took me forever to get over my writer's block and I've managed to relax this weekend. Hopefully I will have another one out before winter conditioning starts but that's pushing it because my aunt, uncle and cousins are coming to visit for Thanksgiving this year. This Sunday, in fact, which means my free time is going to be fairly limited. I also have Tag Day this weekend cutting into my time. Next chapter will be more interesting, though I will need to practice a bit on the fight scenes. I'm not amazing when it comes to those.**

I don't own Naruto.

**Chapter Five: Team Seven **

Two weeks had passed since graduation, and the pair of blonds hadn't been seen in the village since once. There was a yellow flash atop the Hokage Monument, prompting the villagers that saw it to exclaim about the ghost of the Yondaime, but it was not the Yondaime.

On top of the Hokage Monument, out of the yellow flash, appeared two blond-haired time travelers. The first was wearing exactly what he'd worn entering the Time House, Jounin vest under a special seal that instead showed a nine-tailed golden fox on the back and beneath it a white tiger, for Ino's contract, wreathed in blue lightning and the fox had a white tri-pronged kunai in its mouth. Between the white tiger and the fox was the Leaf symbol.

Ino's vest had the same design on the back only the tiger was larger and above the fox, and in its mouth was a cosmos flower, instead of a white tri-pronged kunai. Both of them bore scars they hadn't had save for in the future, and Ino's hair blew back in a slightly longer braid than before. Both were also wearing weights.

Ino looked at Naruto sideways, seeing the wisdom in his eyes, and asked her commander silently _"What'll it be, Naruto? You want to arrive in the Hiraishin?"_ he nodded once _"Beware, Naruto Namikaze and Ino Yamanaka have returned!"_

"_Exactly,"_ Naruto said with a smile, and he put his hand on her shoulder _"Ready? Three, two, one, here we go…__**Hiraishin**__,"_ he thought, saying it aloud over the mental link for Ino's benefit. They vanished in a yellow flash of light, and the two blonds reappeared right outside their old classroom immediately afterward. Naruto tied his hitai-ate around his forehead quickly, making sure it held his bangs back out of his face, and reached up with his right hand to make sure his sword was still there; at times he left things behind during the Hiraishin and he wanted to make sure he hadn't this time.

"Stop worrying, neither of us lost anything, and even if you did you could recall it with that seal of yours," chided Ino, smiling at him and kissing his whiskered cheek gently, causing both of them to blush a little "Come on, we've got a class to face," Naruto nodded, and stepped through the door, followed by Ino who also had her hitai-ate around her forehead.

Naruto and Ino had regained their old strength quickly in the Time House, along with their old chakra control and Naruto had even explored more projects in Fuuinjutsu, which Ino gave him inspiration for. The True Resurrection Seal had been completed and seeing as they both had their old strength back, having adjusted for their new bodies' sizes and reaches (and they would continue adjusting as they grew older), they were easily strong enough to overpower anyone in their way.

The two of them looked at one another as the rest of the class looked on at them, a mixture of shock and confusion on their faces. The first to stand up was Sakura "Iruka-sensei, who are these people?" Naruto clamped his jaw shut, trying not to chuckle at Sakura's words, but across the mental link the two shared, the quiet chuckling reverberated, making Ino smile.

"I think you know the two of them," replied Iruka, looking at the pair of blonds "Are you making it public?" he asked, looking directly at Naruto "You're wearing your father's symbol."

"There's no point in hiding anymore," Naruto said calmly "Besides, we've worked something out with the Hokage, so there shouldn't be any problems," _"should being the operative word in that sentence, because there will likely be many __civilian__ problems."_ He was rewarded with a foxy grin from Ino and a slight nod from his girlfriend.

"I agree," Ino said firmly, looking at the whole class and then at Iruka, her sharp blue eyes darting back and forth "My father won't be too pleased, especially not with the full story..." she sighed "but there's no point in hiding anymore." _"Me or you, Naruto?"_ asked Ino, as the pair of them looked at the class.

Sakura was still standing up, shock clear on her face as she took in the words Ino had spoken. Naruto had every idea that Sakura had recognized Ino's voice, and that she was trying to put two and two together. To his surprise, Hinata stood up and with no stutter in her voice said "I don't believe you."

"As I would have said before, believe it," Naruto said firmly, taking Ino's hand in his and noticing his girlfriend's slight blush as he did so "I'm not sorry for liking Ino," Hinata stared at him with tears in her eyes "I'm sorry Hinata; I know you know who we are, and I'm sorry I ended up leading you on two weeks ago." He looked at Ino once more, and her expressive blue eyes were firm, as her voice sounded in his mind _"Taichou, it's time."_

"_That's Naruto-kun to you now,"_ he reminded her with a teasing note in his mental voice, causing her to blush a little more. Iruka looked at the pair of them with a smile on his face, and would have spoken, but Naruto tugged Ino's hand and the two of them walked together to the front of the class, before turning to face them.

Kiba whistled "Man, your girlfriend's hot," he called, and Naruto tightened his hand around Ino's almost imperceptibly. He looked at Kiba and raised an eyebrow, and Kiba raised both hands "Hey, she's taken, and I don't go for taken girls. I'll find someone else; I just never saw someone quite like her before."

Naruto nodded, and looked at the class as a whole once more, only this time his eyes were set and firm "You all know me, and you know my girlfriend as well. We were here two weeks ago and Hinata has recognized us, courtesy of the Doujutsu of the Hyuuga clan, due to our chakra." He stopped, and took a single breath "My full name is quite long, because I'm related to many clans that later died out after marrying into the two clans I'm from; I would ask that you not interrupt me, even to squeal like a fan girl, because I dislike being interrupted and I especially dislike being ignored. According to his journals I got that from Dad." He looked at them all seriously "My name is Naruto," the whole class gasped or stared in shock "Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, heir of the Uzumaki clan through my mother Kushina and the Namikaze clan through my father, Minato Namikaze, whom all of you know as the Yondaime Hokage. My parents died the day I was born, and perhaps if I learn to trust you I'll explain what my father really did to stop the Kyuubi that day. As it is, my girlfriend is the only one of you all who knows what happened, and why."

Ino spoke up "My name is Ino Yamanaka, hopefully in the future Yamanaka-Uzumaki-Namikaze," she flushed a little as Naruto glanced at her, a slight blush on his face as well "but who knows, we might not have enough time to marry in the future. Sakura, you can have Sasuke; I have who I want, and I'm not giving up without a huge fight," as soon as she finished speaking she told Naruto _"I am going to be very upset with you if you tell me I'm safer without you. I'm not going to leave you for someone else."_

Naruto smiled at her, and right as Shikamaru stood up to utter what he thought of the proceedings, the former and future Hokage spun his girlfriend into his arms and kissed her passionately. Surprise emanated through their bond but soon Ino replied by deepening the kiss, causing the feeling between them to intensify. Both of them saw more than sparks or fireworks; a brilliant light display played in their heads as they kissed and Naruto heard Kyuubi scream in pain.

Sadistically, Ino told him _"We should do this more often if it feels this good, and puts the fox through so much pain. It sounds agonizing for it to feel."_

Naruto heartily agreed with her _"I know; the fox has been making my life hell for so long, I think it's time we dragged the damn thing down with as much pain as possible."_ At a polite cough from Iruka, the couple separated _"I was enjoying that,"_ he complained silently, though he did smile at her as they parted.

"_You'll get more later,"_ Ino promised, winking at her boyfriend as the pair of them nodded to Iruka, both smiling, and Naruto winked at him before leading his girlfriend to the pair of empty seats by the window, next to Shikamaru.

"So you two are dating now?" asked the Nara curiously, glancing sideways at the pair of them; Ino was sitting in between her boyfriend and Shikamaru, preventing the two from getting into a more physical discussion, but Ino could see that the shadow-wielding shinobi definitely would if the need arose. Naruto nodded, and Shikamaru whispered "Can I switch seats with you for a moment Ino?"

Ino rolled her eyes at him before moving to sit on Naruto's lap, allowing Shikamaru to move over and sit in the chair next to them. Naruto smiled at the Nara then, a true smile, and said "I've not talked to her father yet, but I will," he paused "I know how you think of Ino, from the way she's talked to me. If I hurt her, then I would ask for someone to come slap some sense into me," he paused "and that's if, which I'm not planning on. I don't see anything in the other girls, even if they throw themselves at me. Our story is complicated and involves more than just a year of friendship, I can promise you that," he added, seeing Shikamaru open his mouth to speak "I might put my foot in my mouth once or twice but I try not to. Poor Dad; he certainly had that problem with Mom. We found some rather funny journal entries by both of them referring to that."

Ino chuckled and nodded as Iruka called role. The two of them stopped when Iruka called "Shikamaru Nara," and Shikamaru answered in his typical fashion. All of the future heroes of Konoha sat in this room, as did a future traitor; something Naruto and Ino would work their hardest at preventing.

"Good," Shikamaru said, looking at Naruto fiercely "I won't hesitate to hurt you if you hurt her." Naruto smiled at him and nodded "Why hide?" he whispered, as Iruka continued calling role "Any particular reason?"

"My parents have a lot of enemies and in their wills, which I read, they both wanted me to become either eighteen, or at least able to go toe-to-toe with Kakashi Hatake of the Sharingan before I claimed my inheritance," Naruto explained, winking at Shikamaru _"He doesn't have to worry about you being in danger; you think we should reassure him about that or wait?"_

"_Wait; Shika will ask more questions on those matters than we can answer in our current surroundings,"_ Ino replied, glancing at him and then turning to Shikamaru "Dad will be able to deal with it, that much I can promise you; we're not about to do anything we're not ready for, for quite some time yet. We're just not that far along in our relationship yet," explained the Yamanaka heiress, and Shikamaru nodded "I can assure you, though, that my being with the Namikaze clan heir isn't going to put me in any danger. Naruto's and my disappearance may have been explained with a mission, but a special sort, and I'm not the 'damsel in distress' anymore." She looked at her old teammate firmly "Don't tell him; let me be the one to talk to him."

From his vantage point, Naruto could guess that his name would cause heads to turn no matter when it was called. He saw Sasuke staring up at him and Ino with what looked like envy and greed on his face, but it was carefully hidden behind the cold look in his eyes. However, underlying those, was a spark of longing. Something he could draw out if he was careful and became Sasuke's friend before attempting to convince him that it was a bad idea to go after Itachi in his current state.

Many of the Sasuke fan girls, though not including Sakura, were glaring at Naruto and Ino. Most of them were probably miffed that they missed out on Naruto, and who he really was underneath his mask, or they were upset that Ino had abandoned Sasuke for the 'dobe' of the class. No matter what opinion they held of Naruto, the hanyou was content with what he had and was going to fight to the bitter end and beyond to keep it, so they were going to have a hell of a time trying to part the two.

"I already know you two are here, Naruto, Ino," said Iruka at the end of roll call "I see no reason to call your names since it's official," though he did wink at Naruto "I know how to keep a secret. Now, team assignments will be as follows. Team One, Shuichi Minami, Ami Tsuchi, and Jing Kurotsuchi. Your sensei will be Hayate Gekkou. Team Two," Naruto and Ino both listened intently, and both silently vowed to keep their year mates alive if they could, "Yusuke Urameshi, Yakumo Kurama, and Sui Araiki, under Yuugao Uzuki. Team Three, Dai Ryuuken, Haruka Mizu, and Makoto Shishio under Genma Shiranui. Team Four, Ryuu Shidou, Hikaru Shidou, and Raiga, under Raido Namiashi. Team Five, Umi Ryuuzaki, Fuu Hououji, and Kuu Hououji. Your sensei will be Anko Mitarashi," Naruto smirked, remembering Anko's attitude toward her three female students, "Team Six, Ferio and Keiichi Morisato, Verdandi, and your teacher is Urdu; Team Seven is under Kakashi Hatake. Sasuke Uchiha," all of the fan girls hung off of Iruka's every word "and there are four people on Team Seven due to an imbalance in the number of graduates this year. Sakura Haruno," the chief fan girl of the Uchihas cheered at the top of her lungs, making both Naruto and Ino wince at the noise "Ino Yamanaka," Sakura stared at her "and Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze. Naruto, try not to give your teacher a heart attack." Iruka winked at him though, and Naruto winked back.

"Kakashi already knows what's going on and I'll let you in on the secret a bit later, Iruka-sensei," Naruto replied with a smile. "I can tell you one thing, though; the fox is slowly but surely dying, thanks to Otou-san," he winked at his shocked sensei "Tell you more later."

"_Well, that was a very Kushina-like thing to do, my fox,"_ Ino said through the bond, smirking at him. All Naruto did was smile at the praise as Iruka continued "Team Eight, Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuuga, and Shino Aburame, under Kurenai Yuuhi. Team Nine is still in rotation from last year; Team Ten, Chouji Akimichi, Shikamaru Nara, and Arisa Uotani," finished Iruka, and Naruto noticed the brunette girl that had been assigned to their team wink at Chouji, causing him to blush a little.

"_I think Arisa and Chouji might end up together,"_ Naruto commented _"I don't remember him living long enough to get together with someone else last time,"_ both of them shivered a little at the memories. _"You think nii-san will be late?"_

"_No, I think he's here already; want to point him out?"_ Ino asked, grinning foxily at her boyfriend. Naruto gently set Ino on her feet before standing up "Kakashi-nii-san, though that's very good, you've forgotten that only Sages can mask their chakra that way completely, and no Sage has been able to hide from either of us," he said, looking at a seemingly innocent plant at the front of the room.

In a puff of smoke the Jounin appeared, his silver hair shimmering a little in the light as he looked at them firmly. He wasn't slouching lazily anymore, and even better, his tanto was strapped across his back. He chuckled "I should have known I wouldn't be able to hide from you or Ino, Naruto; I blame only myself for overlooking that. Team Seven, stand up and follow me," he ordered, and immediately the two blonds darted out of their spot and down to Kakashi. Following them, one with a sneer on his face and the other with the look of a swooning girl in love, were Sasuke and Sakura.

Kakashi led them outside and past the children on the play sets. Naruto walked hand-in-hand with Ino, frequently taking a look at his girlfriend's almost ethereal beauty, and he continuously ended up catching her looking at him.

"_Can I help it that you're hot?"_ Ino commented as he caught her staring for the fifth time. Naruto smiled and shook his head slightly to let her know he wasn't upset about it _"Good; I would hate to change my habits of looking at my boyfriend."_

"_Yeah, and I'm not exactly guiltless either; you're more than beautiful, you're radiant,"_ he complimented her through the link and as they stopped, now standing in Training Ground Twelve, he noticed that Sasuke had been trying to get his attention. "Sorry Sasuke, I was a little distracted," Naruto said apologetically. Sasuke only snorted and looked away "What was it you needed?"

"Are you really strong enough to defeat sensei?" demanded Sasuke quietly, as Kakashi walked to the KIA stone. "If so, how did you become so strong? I need that power, dobe, to kill _him_." Naruto chuckled a little.

"I became strong because I found something worth fighting for," Naruto said, visibly confusing Sasuke, who frowned at the Uzumaki. The Uchiha was ignorant to the force he was speaking of right now, but eventually he would come around, with the right kind of talking and training. _I found my girlfriend. I found family and I found a home that I love and will do anything for, within the bounds of reason._ "As for being strong enough to defeat sensei, I'll leave that up to your judgment."

Ino's shoulder was tapped by Sakura, and the blond whirled, almost hitting Sakura in the face with her braid and whacking Naruto in the shoulder _"Sorry Naru-kun,"_ she said as Sakura led her away to talk to her _"Same thing, I believe,"_ she added _"though probably ranting on about her precious 'Sasuke-kun'."_

"_Ouch," _was all he could reply with, and out loud Kakashi said "You four can get to know each other later; Ino, Sakura, come back please." The pinkette hadn't succeeded in taking the blond too far, so the girls, one of them a time traveler, walked back over to them. The differences between the four were immediately apparent as Ino grasped hands with Naruto, sending warmth through the two of them as they recognized each other's presences.

Sasuke was, when compared to Naruto, a shadow standing stubbornly by itself in the radiance of light that surrounded him. Ino was like sunshine, compared to the pinkette, who looked almost like a cherry blossom with a bit of the shadow on her, and the differences were like day and night for both genders. Naruto noticed them first and foremost, and quickly checked Sasuke's and Sakura's elemental affinities.

Sasuke was still lightning and fire, and fire major, so that meant no changes in the jutsu he could learn. Naruto decided then and there to keep him away from the Chidori unless there was a need for him to learn it or he stole it. Sakura's affinities hadn't changed either, but her water and earth affinities were equal instead of earth being dominant. Either that was because she had trained in earth with Tsunade, or it was an effect of them coming back in time. Kakashi's were lightning major, wind minor, fire minor, likely from Obito, and water minor. He had a very small earth affinity but not enough to warrant him learning more than the basic earth jutsus. Ino's affinities, a rainbow of all of them, mainly water and lightning, shone like a beacon next to him and he already knew that he'd see all of them if he closed his eyes as well.

Kakashi eye-smiled at them "Now, how about we all introduce ourselves?" he asked, facing them in front of the Memorial Stone "You, broody, first; I want to hear name, likes, dislikes, hobbies, something interesting about you and your dream," he said, pointing at Sasuke. Naruto chuckled very, very quietly, but Ino heard him, and had to be inclined to agree.

"_I think he might just be doing that to get attention,"_ commented the Yamanaka, causing Naruto to inwardly roar with laughter. Kyuubi had also started snickering in its cage, enough that it was infecting Ino too. The two blonds shook with silent laughter as Sasuke glared at them and said "My name is Sasuke Uchiha, I barely like anything, tomatoes included, and I dislike many things including fan girls and _him_. I train in my spare time. I am the heir of the Uchiha clan and I do not have a dream, I have an ambition. To kill _that man_, and to rebuild the Uchiha clan, in that order." Naruto quietly chuckled at the statements, a sense of déjà vu falling over him as he remembered the old Sasuke's introduction.

"_Only you would find this situation so funny, Naru,"_ commented his girlfriend, and Naruto only smiled at her. _"Alright, who's next?"_

"Naruto, you next," Kakashi said, eye-smiling at him. Naruto raised his hands to cover his ears, Ino doing the same thing as Sakura glared at him.

"Why does _Naruto-baka_ get his name spoken instead of Sasuke-kun?" came the shrill demand from Sakura immediately afterward. Kakashi ignored her, and as soon as she was done speaking Naruto lowered his hands from his ears, followed by Ino who did so a little more slowly.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, I like spending time with Ino-chan, training, ramen, reading, developing new seals and jutsu, and spending time with people I consider my precious people, Ino-chan included," Ino smiled at him and said _"I'll relay Sakura's & Sasuke's faces to you; right now they look disbelieving,"_ she winked at him then _"And you can already feel how I feel."_

"_I know, Ino-chan,"_ replied Naruto gently before he continued, smiling "I dislike disloyalty, traitors, people who seek to dishonor my parents' legacy to me, those who threaten my precious people, the Red Dawn, whom I'm certain you'll meet later, a certain man who wishes for nothing more than the world's destruction," he'd been there, and so had Ino; Sasuke's dying face flashed through his vision and the finality of it made his words more sincere than before as his eyes glowed with an inner fire "and my hobbies are training, reading, sealing and spending time with Ino-chan. An interesting thing about me? There's far more to me than meets the eye, even now, but I think I'll give you a piece of information, one that could prove to be useful. I am extremely good at Fuuinjutsu, according to everyone I know. Ask Ino-chan if you don't believe me," he nodded toward his girlfriend "Hell, ask Kakashi-sensei. He knows," Kakashi nodded to Sasuke and Sakura, as confirmation, "and I have many dreams. First, I wish to become Hokage, but not at the cost of my precious people." _I've been Hokage once, and I'd like to become Rokudaime again but only if I'm chosen for the position,_ "Second, I wish to stop the aforementioned crazy man who wants to destroy the world."

"Tch, with that level of strength, you'll have to try pretty hard, dobe," sneered Sasuke. Ino bristled very slightly and inwardly fumed through the link _"When I get my hands on him..."_

"_Relax, Ino-chan, he doesn't understand; I'll make sure he does, once we start working together as a team,"_ Naruto reassured her, and Ino calmed down, even though Sakura's dry laugh at Sasuke's proclamation had caused him to bristle a little himself.

-)-

"You don't know him, so you can't say that," Ino finally said, and Naruto's eyes widened slightly; she had publicly defended him before, but never to Sasuke, and the move was completely unexpected "He might be my boyfriend but why do you think I'm dating him? Ok, sure, he's hot," she blushed a little "but it wasn't his looks I fell for. Sakura, you know me; I used to chase after Sasuke with you, until I realized it was a hollow obsession over a pretty boy because of his looks. I realized it was just attraction because of his looks, nothing else; nothing deeper," Sakura was staring at her now, looking into the eyes of the Yamanaka heiress with what looked like a mixture of understanding and disbelief on her face. "With Naruto? I'm more than sure it's more than a physical attraction," Ino felt him put an arm around her shoulders and smiled "I've never been in love before but I can tell you I feel pretty damn close right now." With that, she turned and kissed Naruto, leaning up a little because he was slightly taller than her at this age.

The passion with which he responded surprised her and nearly blew her mind. Indescribable happiness flooded her entire body sending brilliant flashes from her chest, to her head, to the rest of her body and when they finally pulled apart Naruto's smile made her nearly go weak at the knees.

_I think I __am__ in love with him,_ thought Ino; _that never happened with Sai. I'm pretty sure that never happened to him with Hinata either._

"_Ino-chan, I thought you should know, you kiss better than Hinata or Shion who kissed me briefly after our mission there,"_ Naruto told her, and Ino could feel some heat rush to her cheeks.

"_Thanks Naru-kun; you kiss much better than Sai and I've never felt that kind of energy; there was a spark, but nothing like __that__."_ She smiled at him as he continued "My third dream is to have a family of my own one day, and my final dream is that my precious people become happy, one that takes precedence over my dream of having a family. I suppose another goal, but not really a dream of mine is to make my parents proud of me, but as for Dad, I'm not sure he can see me where he is."

Kakashi eye-smiled at him "You've definitely made them proud, Naruto, if they're watching like I think they are," he said, "Minato-sensei and Kushina-shishou would be extremely proud of you for graduating, let alone the rest of what you accomplished," Ino inwardly grinned, knowing that meant the next six years and surviving all of those years.

"Thanks, sensei," said Naruto, and he added _"and thank __you__, Ino-chan. Without you, I wouldn't have managed to get to that level, or survive for so long."_ Ino only smiled at him in acknowledgement _"Your acknowledgement of me was during the Chuunin Exams, but I'm certain you disliked Sasuke before then."_

"_Yeah, I stopped liking him when I was ten, but I wanted to make sure Sakura got a confidence boost; having a rival for her affections with Sasuke was what she needed to gain that confidence, though I'm not too happy that she treated you so badly afterward."_ Ino said with a frown _"Then again, if she hadn't, I might never have ended up dating you, and that's something I'm definitely happy about,"_ she tuned back into the real world when Kakashi said "Ino, you next."

"Wait, wait, even INO-PIG gets acknowledged and Sasuke-kun doesn't?" Ino winced a little at the volume of Sakura's voice and saw that her boyfriend had wisely chosen to plug his ears. _Wish I'd done that..._ she thought, blinking as she saw the world through his eyes for a moment.

"_Whoa...again? That link has some side effect, Ino-chan..."_ Naruto asked, as soon as she'd blinked again. She nodded, making it seem like she was nodding to Kakashi, but Naruto knew better. Then Ino spoke "I am Ino Yamanaka, and as you know I'm the heiress to the Yamanaka clan. I like Naru-kun and spending time with him, ramen, and for that one what can I say, he got me into it and it's really good, especially when he's cooking; I also like training, reading, and developing new techniques. I dislike traitors, disloyalty, the Red Dawn, a certain snake for being such a traitor, and people who hurt those I care about. My hobbies are training, dating Naru-kun and spending time with him, reading, and developing new jutsu. I've got multiple dreams too," Sasuke snorted, and Ino was pleasantly surprised when Naruto glared at him for her "My first is to become the strongest kunoichi in the Leaf, standing alongside Naru-kun as Hokage. Before I forget, technically the two of us are working together toward that future. My second dream is to stop the crazy man, the same one Naru-kun talks about, my third one is to have a family of my own someday, and my fourth is to make my precious people happy. A side goal is to stop the others, the others being the snake and the Red Dawn, and a secondary side goal," Sasuke snorted again, and Naruto just looked at him coldly as she continued "is to help Naru-kun prevent any lives from being as bad as that of a certain person I know. An interesting thing about me? I love Kenjutsu and I created my own style of it that you'll likely see me using."

"Alright pinky," Sakura looked extremely indignant, but Naruto didn't raise his hands to his ears. Seeing what her boyfriend was doing, Ino kept her hands by her sides, trying not to laugh at Kakashi's nickname for her old rival.

"_He called her that last time too,"_ commented Naruto, and Ino blinked, glancing at him in surprise _"I'll show you if you like. I didn't mean to keep it from you, but reliving this stuff makes you remember more."_

"_Can I see?"_ Ino received the memory while Sakura walked over to a tree and began strangling a branch, causing Naruto to laugh. As soon as she figured out what the difference was, likely that Sakura was humiliated before her former rival, she started laughing.

Sakura, Sasuke and Kakashi all stared at her but Naruto started laughing along with her as her clear, warm, musical laughter echoed through the training ground. _"Oh my GOD! THAT'S HILARIOUS!"_

"_I agree,"_ Naruto said, before the two of them glanced at Sakura, Kakashi and Sasuke, and they laughed again, this time at their expressions. Ino recovered first and smiled "Inside joke, sorry," Kakashi nodded, a knowing look in his eye, while Sasuke and Sakura both stared at them.

"Alright," Sakura said, looking a little confused "Moving on, my name is Sakura Haruno, I like," here she paused, and Ino waited to see what she would say, "I like strawberries, mochi, teriyaki, and reading. I don't like Naruto-baka, Ino-pig, really super sour food like dried seaweed, and disobeying authorities. My hobbies are reading, and," she paused and blushed, looking in Sasuke's direction, "My dream..." she also blushed while looking at Sasuke "An interesting thing about me is that I think I've read more books than anyone else in the class."

Naruto and Ino shared a knowing glance, and Ino commented _"That's Sakura; even now, she's read more books than the rest of the class, excepting you and me of course. I think we've read collectively the entire libraries of the Namikaze, Uzumaki, Yamanaka, Uchiha, Konoha, Suna, Kiri-you know what I mean."_

"_Yeah, I do; we cleared out those libraries together, and add that to the amount of info Kyuubi's eventual death will give us, using this bond,"_ Naruto pointed out. Ino winced a little and Naruto followed suit _"Damn it, we're both going to be incapacitated after the fusion."_

"_It'll help in the long run,"_ Ino replied _"besides, we both know how this works, and it doesn't compromise the seal. I hope it happens when we're able to lie down for awhile without causing undue suspicion-I don't want to tell Daddy why I'm going to be incapacitated for about a week."_

Naruto nodded as Kakashi eye-smiled at them "Now, since I know you've had a while off, today we'll be having a test. A special test, the same one I was given as a Genin. Naruto, I know you know what it is, so I am going to have you help me," Naruto blinked once, and looked at Ino, who shrugged. _"Kakashi remembers two weeks ago quite clearly if you ask me. And our six years of training make us more than a match for him; it's really not fair to have the Rokudaime and his girlfriend up against one Jounin who's only had 2 weeks to get his top fighting condition back."_

"_I agree,"_ Naruto walked over to Kakashi, and asked "How can I help, sensei?" he sounded just as curious as a twelve-year-old should have and Ino smiled at seeing how he could trick them so easily. Kakashi looked disturbed, if only for a moment, and then he eye-smiled at them all.

"Naruto, I'm going to give you the bells," immediately, Ino knew what was going on and looked at her teammates, before looking at Naruto again. Her boyfriend and possibly fiancé if things got that far was looking at her with a foxy grin on his face.

Naruto accepted the two bells from Kakashi, and tied them to his belt. Kakashi nodded to him, and Naruto grinned foxily at them, before stating "Well, looks like I'm going to be explaining the bell test. Dad took it when he was a Genin and he was sensei's teacher, so sensei's had it. I've also had it before, so I know what it's about. There are only two bells. You must get a bell to pass. But then, consider this, I've had two weeks to get from where I was to where I am now and a hell of a two weeks it was." Ino snickered softly, knowing it wasn't really two weeks "Fine, Ino-chan, I'm moving on," he said with a wink at them "Now, the loser is going to go back to the Academy. I'd like to warn you now, Ino-chan and I have another shot at becoming shinobi and you two don't, so think about that. The only reason I'm not taking this test is because I know the key. Kakashi-sensei, it's up to you if you interfere or not," he said, walking over to the Memorial Stone and touching two names sadly with his fingers.

Ino immediately felt bad for her boyfriend; the names he was touching, since she could see what he saw at times, she _knew_ were those of his parents. They read _Namikaze Minato_ and _Uzumaki Kushina_, but what really drove the point home were the tears in his eyes as he touched the stone's names.

As he touched them, brilliant golden light surged through his fingertips into the names and Ino watched as the ethereal forms of his parents appeared. Immediately the name _Uzumaki_ was changed to _Namikaze-Uzumaki_, and as she watched, both of them placed comforting hands on his shoulders before disappearing, his father fading and his mother with a wink and a blue flare of what looked like chakra.

"What was that, dobe?" demanded Sasuke, and Naruto only smiled at them, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand as he did so. Ino felt like someone had sucker-punched her in the stomach at the look in his eyes. Immediately, she strode forward, poked him in the chest, and then drew him in for a kiss.

She could feel their heartbeats synchronizing as he whined over the link _"That's no fair...promise you won't use this for the test?"_ Ino didn't answer immediately, thinking about the options if she did or if she didn't use this for the test.

Finally she decided such a method of distraction, while it certainly worked, would most likely irritate the team and Kakashi, and she pulled back from him to look him in the eyes "I promise I won't do that for the test, but after I can't promise anything." Naruto grinned at her in response "I'll let you know how it goes."

"Sure thing," Naruto said, _"I'm not going to use the mental link to find you, unless they attack you in which case I'm going to use the Hiraishin and tie them to a tree upside-down naked and find some howler monkeys to throw crap at them."_

Ino smiled at him and hugged him tightly _"I won't let you dwell on their deaths on your birthday. The day after and the day before you're allowed to mourn for them, but not the day of. You will never be alone, Naruto. Not again. I won't allow it."_

"_Thanks, Ino-chan,"_ replied Naruto as she turned back to the group and walked back over, smiling brightly at them, in response to Sasuke's glare and Sakura's jealous gaze. _Oh, she's jealous alright,_ thought Ino, _though not of Naruto. She's jealous I have what she wants, but she wants it with Sasuke._

"I know at least two of you can do this, so don't deny it and don't whine," Naruto said firmly, the strict tone of his voice carrying weight "You see the angle of the sun," Ino nodded along with the other two Genin "Good, I need you to note that. When the sun is directly overhead, the test is over. I will declare the end of the test, not you. Don't question me unless you want punishment. Unless you're Ino-chan, who can probably take it and far more, not to mention that she's going to listen to me, I really wouldn't try for the punishment. I will also warn you, I am an Uzumaki and a Namikaze. Both of my parents were notorious pranksters and used humiliation to great degree in battle. If you're in your right mind, you won't do it." He added _"The worst I'll do to you is kiss you Ino-chan, but the other two are fair game,"_ he smiled at her and she smiled back.

"_You know better than to pull the One Thousand Years of Pain jutsu on me. Use it on Sasuke if he misbehaves...or I'll do it myself."_ Replied Ino, winking at her boyfriend "When do we start?" she asked aloud, so as not to seem suspicious.

She noticed Naruto's slight change in stance. Then he said "You start now." Sasuke and Sakura immediately disappeared while Kakashi sat against the KIA stone reading his orange book. Ino frowned at her boyfriend, who chuckled "You knew didn't you?"

"Of course I did, I'm not stupid Naru-kun; remember, you _did_ train with me for quite some time on your family estate," replied Ino, referring to the fact that her boyfriend could sense chakra as easily as breathing. It had been a power he'd always possessed but the years of harsh training and war had led it to saving the lives of his comrades, and his life back when he was mortal, many times. It had even helped him avoid destroying the civilian section of Oto when Orochimaru summoned his parents back to life to fight him.

That had been the inspiration for the now-completed True Resurrection Seal, one he could create with a few simple markings, some divine and demonic chakra, and the Hiraishin allowing him to catch the summoned person. He'd tested it on a regular dead body and it worked just as well; it should work on the Edo Tensei.

_That should give the old snake a surprise,_ thought Ino with a smirk on her face. Naruto asked _"What're you smirking about?"_

"_Thinking about how much your True Resurrection Seal is going to piss off Oro-chan,"_ replied Ino, and she received an answering smirk as she looked at him. Aloud, she said "So, not going to attack me?"

"You just want to talk, why should I?" Naruto asked, and he added _"Sasuke's pissed and Sakura's trying not to gape but she's still looking somewhat like __this__,"_ he showed her the mental image _"Will the bond affect our fighting capabilities?"_

"_It'll probably make me like sealing as much as Kenjutsu and you vice versa. You have no secrets from me in this bond, Naru-kun, and I have no secrets from you. That's how a permanent bond like this works, and while I didn't know it could run this deeply, the Yamanaka library said that the bond is unbreakable and through soulmates, it will create the strongest bonded pairs in existence. There was only one couple soul-bound in history, and that was the Rikudo Sennin and his wife,"_ Naruto's eyes went wide as he looked at her _"I know, I know, it's a shock. I guess we'll know if...well, if we end up seeing each other's memories at night."_

"_Yeah,"_ Naruto agreed, and then he said aloud "Ino-chan, what do you plan on doing? You know the only way to beat me is to kiss me," Ino smirked at him and he grinned back at her "so what are you going to do, since you promised not to use that? I wouldn't advise doing that again either, since the aura comes out when we kiss," he added, and Ino blinked.

She'd been completely unaware of that fact. Sighing to herself, she said "I'll go find them, see you when I finally manage to convince them." _"Please Genjutsu one or both of them, just so they know that they're not strong enough by themselves, if they refuse,"_ she asked him silently, and he gave her a barely perceptible nod, such a minute movement of his head not even moving his hair, but with her enhanced senses Ino easily picked up what he was doing.

"Have fun," Naruto said, and Ino chuckled before using the Shunshin to phase out of the clearing, and making sure she reappeared behind Sakura. The pinkette didn't move until Ino put her hand over her mouth, and then she gave a very soft whimper.

"Shh," Ino whispered, and, still holding Sakura, she took them to a clearing in another part of the training ground. Ino closed her eyes for a moment, her grasp on Sakura's shoulder as tight as it needed to be; the pinkette would break her own shoulder before getting away from her. Sakura was frozen, likely in fear, though she had probably recognized the hand by now.

She saw through Naruto's eyes, and realized he'd sent out clones. _"Tsk, tsk, Ino-chan, cheating are we?"_ teased Naruto and Ino sent him a laugh and an image of what she could see in return. _"You don't have to do that; I understand. Be careful."_

"_I will; I'll let you know if I failed,"_ Ino replied, opening her eyes and swinging her hair around, hearing the unmistakable clang of metal on metal as the kunai thrown at her had hit the metal weight she had tied at the end of her braid. Turning to glare at Sasuke, as she had sensed him before he threw it, she said "Do you want him to find us?"

"No, I want to know where you learned that," Sasuke said flatly, and Ino released Sakura, allowing the pinkette to spin around. The shocked Sakura then raised her fist, but hit thin air as a clone appeared, a shadow clone, holding a kunai to Sakura's neck. Her own kunai was pressed against Sasuke's.

"Don't attack me, and you might earn enough of my trust for me to tell you. Right now, I can tell you that both of you are cannon fodder." She released the two of them "I was planning on talking to you both alone," she dispelled the clone in a puff of smoke as Sakura and Sasuke were both staring at her "but this makes things easier. You forgot a few important things."

"Oh, and what were those important things, Ino-pig?" sneered Sakura. Ino flicked her in the forehead and was rewarded with a yelp of pain "What was that for?" demanded Sakura, raising her voice.

"First, shut up, I can't believe he wanted to be on a team with you two," Ino said flatly, "Second, consider this. Naru-kun can beat me, yes, if we want to destroy the training ground, not including the KIA stone-neither of us will touch that thing and there's good reason for it," Ino said sharply as Sasuke opened his mouth to speak "So kindly keep your mouth shut Sasu-chan," Sasuke fumed, glaring at her "Thank you. Now, Naru-kun is very strong; he's stronger than I am and that doesn't bode well for you, considering I can take on Kakashi-sensei and probably win."

_Let's see how they handle that._ She thought, looking at their faces. Sasuke sneered "How could a _dobe_ beat one of the tied girls for Kunoichi of the year? He's just a fraud; he must have borrowed power from someone in order to get this far."

"_Sasuke will need some mental help,"_ Ino informed Naruto, who gave her a mental nod _"I'm actually amused, he thinks that counts for something in the real world. I'll handle it, Naru-kun, so you don't have to,"_ she added, and turned to sharply glare at Sasuke "He can beat Kakashi-sensei without touching his true power. If you don't believe me, wait until our first C-rank or come by and join one of our training sessions."

"Yeah right Ino-pig, you're dating the baka," Sakura said, shaking her head "It must have screwed with your judgment." Ino rolled her eyes and said nothing, since nothing she said would get through to them; only experience would.

"_Never mind Naru-kun, I'm going to let you tie them up,"_ Ino told him sweetly, _"Sakura thinks you're worthless, and Sasuke thinks you're the dead-last but at the same time he smells wary,"_ the scent wafting toward her was disgust, from Sakura, and wariness, from Sasuke. Obviously growing up in a shinobi clan meant that he didn't immediately dismiss information given so freely.

"Why are you telling us this?" demanded Sasuke finally, staring at her "There's an ulterior motive; there has to be," he continued, and Sakura stared at him, swooning while Ino looked right at him "wait, is Naruto strong enough to kill my brother?"

"Considering what he's done, Itachi would make him use some of his real power but not enough to make him a real threat, so yes," Ino said flatly, and Sasuke stared at her, wide-eyed "I'd listen to him if I were you or you're going to find out what a hard taskmaster he can be. I've trained with him for about a year, and I know how hard he pushes himself, and he pushed me almost as hard. He's an inspiration, to me and to others," she finished, smiling proudly at her boyfriend, both inwardly and outward.

"_Thanks Ino-chan,"_ Naruto said, a genuine smile on his face _"Kaka-sensei's getting a little worried that I'm standing here; I can see it in his eyes, that he wants to ask. I'll make sure nothing interrupts."_

She mentally nodded, turning back to the two Genin hopefuls before her. Sasuke snorted "And what can you do, then? You're easily beaten by him, and so are we." _Point to you, Sakura; you were right to leave him in the future. I hope we can be friends again..._

Ino glanced at Sakura, just to see what the pinkette was thinking. Sakura was making doe-eyes at Sasuke, so that course of action was closed to her. Rolling her eyes, she cleared her throat to get their attention back on her. Sasuke's eyes, broody, dark and filled with what looked like malice, and Sakura's, which were full of fear and confusion, locked with her own, and she made a mental note of their expressions to tell Naruto about later.

"There's only one way to beat Naruto, and that's teamwork. If you don't want to work with me, I'll let you work alone, but remember the warning," she said, raising one of her eyebrows at them "What'll it be?"

Sakura frowned "Why should I trust you, pig?" she demanded, the haughty attitude that Ino associated with their Genin days appearing "You're his _girlfriend_; you could be trying to make us fail." _Sakura..._

"I could," Ino acknowledged "but think about it. Naruto's strong enough to tear me apart, if he were to stop holding back and fight like he will against the maniac we were talking about. Even holding back like this, it would take more than one person to beat him. Think about it like this-if you were fighting someone who could tear you apart in a few minutes alone, would you double your strength by working with someone else?"

"_Nice,"_ Naruto complimented her as he listened in on their conversation _"You're doing quite well with them; I could never have come up with a convincing argument back when I was twelve. I bet Sakura's turning the odds over in her head now."_

"_Let's just hope this works, or I'm going to be watching them tied to stumps,"_ she replied, waiting to hear what they had to say. Predictably, Sasuke snorted at her.

"Yeah right, you'll only hold me back," he turned and disappeared into the undergrowth, leaving behind Sakura, who was still making doe-eyes at him, and Ino, who only shook her head in disappointment.

"Well Sakura?" asked Ino, waiting to hear what her 'friend' would do in this situation. Last time, she knew the pinkette would never have thought of allying herself with Ino, but last time had been different.

-)-

Naruto waited patiently for Ino's verdict on what had happened, though one of his clones had already encountered the Uchiha's trail. Not to mention his chakra signature was heading away from Ino and Sakura, which didn't surprise him.

"_I see Sasuke wasn't convinced,"_ he said thoughtfully, receiving a regretful shake of the head from Ino mentally _"Time to cut him down to size, then."_ He looked over at Kakashi "Lost Sasuke," he said, shrugging, and Kakashi blinked at him in confusion "He's decided to go it alone, like he always does."

"Ah," said Kakashi, sounding unsurprised "After what he did to you, Naruto...I'm surprised you don't hate him." Naruto shrugged, pulling out his Fuuinjutsu notebook, and began working on his secondary sealing project, a mass resurrection seal for use on an army "What is that you're working on?" he asked, leaning forward to see around Naruto's red-tipped spikes.

"A mass version of a seal I've already created," Naruto replied without lifting his head "I've already created a way to disrupt Edo Tensei, one that will have Madara, Orochimaru, and everyone else who performs it screaming in fury. I just want to make sure the mass version works, so I'm working on a piece of that seal."

"A _piece_?" Kakashi said, and Naruto looked up at him, putting his sealing brush down on its stand as he sat down. "You mean to tell me that's not the whole thing? That's ridiculously complicated for even a seals master of your caliber, Naruto."

"I know," Naruto replied, smirking to himself at the face Madara would pull when he realized his army was useless in the face of the Rokudaime's seal "This is more of a long-term project. I've already created many seals; this one is meant to frustrate the enemy more than anything else. You remember the massive resurrected armies in the future," Kakashi's lone eye widened "exactly."

The Jounin whistled, impressed "You know your father would have done the same; I'd be surprised if he hasn't got a seal to work against that already," Naruto nodded "So why a large-scale version?"

Naruto grinned up at his former teacher "Well, where's the fun in messing it up one by one when you can do it en masse?" he asked, as Ino contacted him _"Sasuke's run into one of your traps, Naruto. Your clone just dispelled."_

Naruto blinked three times before he sorted through the memories. Sasuke had confronted his clone and gotten trapped in the ground, buried up to his neck. He wasn't surprised; _Uchiha's always been arrogant, so hopefully leaving him there will let him learn his place._

"_You can offer to get him out, but you know I think he deserves it,"_ he commented, seeing Sasuke's enraged face as he tried and failed to climb out of there. His enhanced ears heard shouted insults at his parentage and himself from far away and Kakashi glanced at him "Something wrong?"

"Sasuke failed once, and he's yelling insults," as soon as he registered that Sasuke had called his mother a prostitute (the unkind word for one) and his father no better, he blocked out the insults even as his chakra swirled up inside him angrily. He took two calming breaths "He just called both my parents rather insulting names," he explained, seeing Kakashi's concerned look in his direction.

He'd heard worse, but it didn't make things any better. He still wanted to hit Sasuke. Kakashi nodded, his eye flashing with understanding "I know what you mean. I hope you kick his butt, Naruto." _Thanks, sensei_, thought Naruto, _you have no idea how much it means to hear you say that._

"_Naruto,"_ Ino's single-word statement was his only warning as three kunai shot out of the bushes near him, aimed at his sealing book. Naruto simply drew his hands back and put the brush and ink away, letting the protective seal work on the book do its job. The kunai bounced off harmlessly, and he blew on the ink to dry it, using a little chakra to heat the ink in the paper just enough that it dried. Then he picked up the book and slipped it back inside his glove's seal along with the rest of his sealing tools.

His next warning was the moving chakra signature behind him. He moved before Sakura could see him do so, and the pinkette's fist hit only air as he backed up. He met her eyes with his, seeing the clear shock in them, and nimbly dodged one of Ino's blows.

"So you took her advice," said Naruto, not surprised in the least as he dodged another of Ino's blows. He looked around him, the world appearing to move in slow motion for a moment, though his body's time was the same as it always was. Taking in Sasuke's chakra signature, the kage continued to dodge everything the three of them threw at him, waiting patiently for Ino to get sick of what she was doing and throw something at him.

Finally it did happen, a blast of lightning aimed at his back. Naruto winked at her and vanished, leaving her to discharge her own attack as he slipped in through her defenses and proceeded to nearly succeed in pressing a pressure point that would have knocked her out. Instead he received a good, hard kick to the jaw, a kick that made him smile as he used its momentum to kick Sasuke out of the air, back-flipping and landing on his feet lightly.

"Come on, Ino-chan," he challenged, seeing Sasuke land hard with a grunt of pain on the ground, his body tilted to the left "You can do better than that!"

"You're right, I can!" she replied, pulling out her sword. He kicked Sakura aside as she tried to attack him and drew his own sword, the blade flashing in the morning sunlight as he blocked one of her blows with his own. "Not farther than they can stand, Naru," she chided as his sword struck hers hard.

Kakashi spoke up "Isn't this unfair, Naruto? You know she's the only one who stands a chance against you, and they _did_ find the key." Naruto didn't answer him, too caught up with Ino's attack. Though he did see his teacher sweat-drop, as did Sakura, who was watching with her mouth agape, and Sasuke, since the two didn't stop.

"_How about we cut this one short? I know what Sasuke's up to, and unfortunately we're slow enough for them to hit right now,"___Ino winced and nodded to him as she flipped away from his attack. The two of them stopped immediately and Ino sheathed her weapon, placing it back on her back, while in a swirl of blue lights his was sealed into his wrist again.

He turned to look at the two Genin hopefuls behind him, one of whom was barely standing and the other was holding his shoulder and glaring at Naruto. Naruto smiled at them, and nodded to Sakura "Good job landing a hit on me, Sakura. Sasuke, while I do not like how you treated your teammates, you also pass. Sensei?"

Kakashi sighed dramatically "Welcome to Team Seven, Sasuke, Sakura. Oh, and you, Naruto, and you Ino," his lone eye twinkled at Naruto, and Naruto grinned back at him "Naruto, good test. And good job not using more than they're ready for."

"Ready for?" Sasuke asked, wincing a little at the pain in his shoulder, pain Naruto recognized from his previous test. He walked toward the Uchiha heir, his walk silent but otherwise not portraying his skill in any way. Sasuke stared at him in confusion.

"Let me see your shoulder," Naruto said calmly, and Sasuke pulled his hand away from it. It looked dislocated and Naruto whistled _I must have hit him stronger than I thought._ "It's dislocated," he said, and Sasuke blinked at him, momentarily looking surprised before blowing it off with a 'cool' look.

"Then what're you going to do about it? You're not a medic," he replied. Naruto rolled his eyes and walked over to him, sliding off one of his gloves as he walked; he didn't want to cause Sasuke to need to amputate his arm.

"I might not be a traditionally trained medic but I can fix your shoulder in an instant," he replied, "unless you want sensei to do it." Sasuke shrugged a little, hissing in pain as he moved his shoulder. "Ok, I'll do it," he put one hand on Sasuke's shoulder near his neck, his other taking Sasuke's arm. _"I dislocated his arm,"_ he told Ino silently, and she nodded, a feeling of surprise emanating through the bond _"I hit him a little too strongly. I'll try not to make that mistake in the future, though; after awhile it's going to get irritating healing him."_ He slipped off his glove "Put this in your mouth and bite down on the leather when it gets painful or you'll bite your tongue in two."

Sasuke glared, but did as he was told, and slipped the glove into his mouth, the leather part only. Naruto didn't want to heal broken teeth too. He'd never found it helped when you spoke to the person in question, so instead, with no warning whatsoever, he took the dislocated joint and popped the bone back in. He saw Sasuke's jaw clench and extended his chakra to heal the miniscule amount of damage he'd done with the blow, before sliding his glove out of Sasuke's mouth and removing the spit using a little water manipulation. Then he slid it back on, activating the seal on the back to regenerate the small part of the glove that had been damaged.

"You're good," he said, and Sasuke moved his arm, an expression of surprise on his face "I've dislocated bones before, and while I heal fast, it's useful to know how to fix those things. It helps that my mom was Tsunade's prized student after her Jounin sensei died," he looked at Kakashi meaningfully, and the Jounin smiled at his student in response.

"In your blood, then?" asked Sakura, standing up a little straighter. Naruto blinked at her for a moment, and then remembered Tsunade was her idol, and Kushina Uzumaki-Namikaze would probably be her idol if she knew more about her.

Naruto chuckled, _"she's sharp, there is some of it in my blood,"_ he commented to Ino, who smiled "You're right, Sakura. It is in my blood. It's also in my blood to have a huge amount of chakra, thanks to both Mom and Dad, so that's why I was never able to do the Academy three. The only one of those I can't do now is the Bunshin, but I can't help that. Dad never was able to make a decent Bunshin either and Mom had to train her chakra control for years to get that far."

He looked at the memorial stone, looking specifically at two names engraved there. He was glad he'd managed to fix his mother's inscribed name, since she would have wanted it that way, but he knew he'd be receiving many questions once shinobi noticed that a name had been shifted slightly. He could also feel two curious gazes on his back, and two sympathetic, sorrowed ones. **(A/N: I'll give you one guess as to who those all belonged to, matching them to one another.)**

Kakashi eye-smiled at all of them "Naruto, I understand that you and Ino just got back from a hard two week session," Naruto knew this was going to involve training, he just knew it. Sakura and Sasuke both stared at the blond pair as they turned to face their sensei "I was hoping you would have some idea of what training you two needed. How far have you gotten?"

Naruto stared at him _"maybe we should tell him,"_ he said thoughtfully _"while neither of us can use our full potential right now, we can use a third of the power we had, and considering what level we're supposed to be at..."_

"_You're right, that's incredible,"_ her contentment and pride flowed through the bond _"besides, your power is returning more quickly than mine. Once we end the Chuunin Exams, our chakra reserves from the future will catch up with our past ones, and then we'll have access to all of the power we had before, plus what we've gained now."_ Naruto winced at the thought of more chakra control training _"Relax, it'll be fine."_

"_I know, I know, I just hate chakra control training,"_ he admitted to her. "We're able to use one third safely," he said finally, causing Kakashi to blink, his eyes widening and he stared at Naruto "If I go farther than three at this point, and three's really pushing it, I'll hit my growth spurt early again and I really don't want that. It would be extremely awkward for Sasuke and Sakura; having a Genin, aged thirteen, suddenly become a giant of over six feet tall would definitely alter teamwork as well..." he trailed off, and Kakashi nodded "I can go four without losing control and five if I get pissed but I have to draw back more quickly than I used to."

Sakura gaped at him, and Sasuke snorted "Dobe, that's impossible. No one grows that much in a single growth spurt." Naruto shrugged his shoulders, since Kakashi appeared to have gotten the message, as had Ino. He'd explain to them later.

"And you, Ino?" Naruto looked at his girlfriend, who was smiling at their teacher. He knew her strength was around his level right now; despite the two's legendary past, they were normal, or as normal as they could get, right now. Considering what they had fought, and how strong they had become, a third of their power was more than enough to beat most of the Jounin in the village.

"I'm about the same as Naruto," she replied, looking at her boyfriend with a flirtatious grin and winking at him. Naruto swallowed back what he was feeling, pushing away the physical response even though he did admit to himself that he found her _very_ attractive "I can use a third safely, and two thirds if you're asking for trouble. If you give us a week and then two more weeks in _there_ we could reach full throttle at the age of thirteen...that is, if you want to take _them_," she gestured to Sasuke and Sakura, "in there. If not, we'll use it when we need to and not before."

Kakashi winced a little and glanced at Naruto, who nodded slightly to him "I think that decision should wait until they're old enough to handle two, not one. Who knows what the snake will do with that kind of knowledge," Naruto growled angrily, his claws unsheathed by his sides as his canines elongated and his whiskers darkened noticeably at the mention of the monster that had destroyed over half of the Konoha Twelve last time, including Ino's father.

"_Calm down,"_ she ordered through the bond, sending him a feeling of peaceful warmth, and he relaxed slightly, letting the emotion wash through him as if it were his own _"I want to kiss you like crazy when you look like that, Naru-kun, so you can't look like that-at least not until we're old enough."_ Naruto winked at his girlfriend as the more feral attributes disappeared as did the KI he had started emitting.

He turned to Sasuke and Sakura with a smile "Sorry about that; Oro-chan pisses me off, in a way no one save Tobi does," his temper he had inherited from his mother, that much he knew. He'd learned control, but there were still a select few that brought out the full force of that protective anger inside of him; Orochimaru was one of them. The snake had personally wounded him last time around by making him fight his parents as well, or his parents' shades, resurrected to destroy him. Oto had not survived that, but neither he nor Ino particularly cared. The civilians had gotten out alive.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow and smirked darkly at him "So the rumors about you being a demon are true," he commented. Naruto sighed through the link and mentally shook his head at Ino, even though the blond bristled at the insult to her boyfriend. "Should have known the demon would protect its own."

Kakashi looked at Naruto and Naruto shrugged, hand-signing quickly [Dad knew what he was doing, nii-san. Don't be angry with him; he can act like a jackass all he wants, just show him something shiny and distract him.]

"As you may have guessed from your test, you're required to work together in order to be on my team," Kakashi began, getting Sasuke's attention "You may believe that your teammates will slow you down, but I can say that there is no way for you to beat your future enemies without someone to watch your back. Now, since I have a pretty good estimation of your skills, you can leave." He smiled at Naruto "but you don't have to."

Naruto grinned back at him "I don't know, up for a little training yourself nii-san?" he could smell how nervous his 'brother' was, especially at the offer coming from _Naruto_. Even at 1/3 of his regular strength he knew he was more than a match for the silver-haired Jounin.

"Maybe later, after the others leave," said Kakashi, sweat-dropping. Naruto smiled at the other three, and Sasuke snorted once more, sneering at them before leaving the training ground with an arrogant strut. Naruto shook his head after the departing Uchiha, and turned to see Ino and Sakura still there.

Sakura looked at him condescendingly "As if _you_ could beat Kakashi-sensei!" exclaimed the pinkette. She left the training ground, tossing her long pink hair over her shoulder as she went. Naruto just shook his head at her, and said through the bond _"that's going to be a problem, isn't it?"_

"_Hopefully the first C-rank will snap her out of it. Let's train,"_ she said, turning to Kakashi with an evil grin on her face. Kakashi looked at the pair nervously for a moment before slipping off his weights and uncovering his Sharingan. Good, that meant he was taking them seriously; they could train until the sun went down and nothing would be thought of it, since it was a shinobi village. Though after that, Ino would have to go home, as would he.

_I'm looking forward to the next time we have a bit of a long time to ourselves,_ he thought with a smile.

AND CUT! Sorry for it being shorter than chapter 4, but chapter 4 was a whopper in comparison. And that was after breaking chapter 3 into chapters 3 and 4 after hitting forty pages.

Yeah, they were originally one chapter, but I added more and more depth with every edit until it finally got too long. Thanks to all my reviewers, and I'm sorry this wasn't up sooner. I've had writer's block and the need to experiment lately, which has improved my writing. I'm also going to see if I can get another chapter out next weekend, but probably it won't happen because I feel everything I write needs work.

Including this. And this is what I consider to be some of my best work in comparison. My patience and sleep patterns have also affected the amount of writing I do, so chapter six may not be out for awhile. Though my muse is whispering in my ear this minute...


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